BTCC to close rules loophole in time for Croft

British Touring Car Championship organiser TOCA is to close off a rules loophole during the summer break in time for the next round at Croft.

Hyundai team Excelr8 Motorsport was held back in the scrutineering bay at Oulton Park last Saturday, after Tom Ingram had set a dominant pole position at the wheel of his i30 N Fastback.

The mounting of the flat floor beneath the sump had been called into question, and it emerged that an ambiguity in the wording of the regulations had led to Excelr8 taking a different path on the cars of Ingram, Tom Chilton, Adam Morgan and Senna Proctor.

The cars were allowed to run unchanged during race day on Sunday, with Ingram scoring his second victory of the season, and Morgan and Chilton also claiming podium finishes.

TOCA supremo Alan Gow told Autosport: “We’ve clarified that grey area now, and the car actually was never illegal, and there was never any discussion among our technical people. It was just that we shouldn’t allow that [in future].”

Excelr8 chief Antony Williams explained: “There are two rules that slightly conflict each other in that we have to do one thing, and we’re given some guidance that we can do something in order to allow that to happen.

“It was perhaps just a little misunderstanding about exactly what that was, but definitely not breaking any rules – it’s absolutely fine.

“We need to make sure that the splitter is flat, which absolutely it was rather than having any shapes or curvatures that might aid aerodynamic performance. No issues there at all. It’s more just around the method of adjustment ultimately. There needs to be some clarification and the championship are going to put that in place.”

The development is understood to have been for the 2025 season, and does not affect the Restart Racing Hyundais, built by Excelr8 over the 2024-25 winter.

While some paddock insiders were of the opinion that the exploitation of grey areas in regulations is part and parcel of motorsport, they doubted whether the rules clarification in time for the Croft round on 2-3 August will have a significant effect on the performance of the Hyundais, which are renowned for their straight-line speed.

“You can’t race it [the Hyundai] and it just makes a mockery of it all,” said reigning champion Jake Hill, who languishes in fifth place in the standings in his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport.

“I think Ash Sutton [championship leader in the Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST] is doing an amazing job to be keeping up. To be honest, Tom’s just playing with us.

“I’ve got no problem with Tom as a person, and he’s a great driver, but for me it’s like bringing a water pistol to World War Three.”