The drivers who could shine on the BTCC support bill this year

The long winter wait is now almost over for the British Touring Car support series. The Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Sprint Challenge GB, British Formula 4 and Mini Challenge are all due to roar into action at Donington Park this weekend.

They may not be joined by the new TOCA Junior championship, its launch having been delayed to 2026, but there is still plenty of intrigue among the four remaining TOCA support categories. Here is a look at who the key contenders are likely to be.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB

It may be six months ago now, but mention last season’s Porsche Carrera Cup GB finale at Brands Hatch to George Gamble and he cannot help but smile. His storming drive in tricky wet conditions netted him the title after a campaign full of twists and turns – and now Gamble wants more success. “That last race, apparently they play it at all the Porsche dealer network now,” he enthuses. “A friend of mine works at the Leicester dealership as a salesman and he says they play it at every seminar, which is really cool. I certainly won’t be forgetting it in a hurry.”

Gamble is continuing with the Century Motorsport squad with the number one on the side of his Porsche and is seeking to pick up where he left off. “It’s a lot more natural than last year when I was learning a new car and a new team,” says the former British Touring Car racer. “Everyone at Century is great so it’s really nice to be back with them and have another stab at it.”

But it is not just Gamble having another attempt, so too is one of his key rivals: Will Martin. He only agreed a deal with the new Eden Motorsport squad on the eve of the campaign but marched into the early standings lead. However, spinning out of the Brands lead derailed his bid and he is determined to make amends. “In the heat of the moment, it’s hard to make a good decision so we’ve all learnt from last year and I think this year will be good,” says Martin. “Motorsport is 90% disappointment and 10% enjoyment! We’ll just have a fun year, enjoy ourselves and any results are a bonus.”

Achieving strong results will not be easy as there are plenty of other notable contenders. Formula Ford star Andrew Rackstraw has joined Gamble at Century for his sophomore season, while Porsche GB Junior James Wallis (JTR) will be attempting to continue the remarkable run of scholars clinching championships.

“I’m feeling good in the car mentally, physically – I feel like I’ve put in a lot of work and I’ve come on leaps and bounds over last year,” Wallis says. “My mindset has probably changed [the most] through being part of the Junior programme. I’ve been working hard with the psychologist and I’m feeling a lot more focused.”

Wallis is therefore optimistic about delivering results after a mixed opening campaign. “In terms of raw pace, I think we were definitely one of the quicker drivers, we just had a couple of curveballs,” he admits.

Meanwhile, the top three from the Sprint Challenge are all jumping into the Carrera Cup and Seb Hopkins, Will Jenkins (both Team Parker) and Max Coates (Graves Motorsport) will be resuming their close Cayman rivalry as another intriguing subplot.

Porsche Sprint Challenge GB

Trice (centre) has enjoyed far better preparation for the upcoming Cayman campaign

Photo by: Porsche

Some of the numbers surrounding the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB shunt Toby Trice suffered approaching Copse in 2023 are quite staggering. The series frontrunner smashed head-on into the barriers at 135mph, creating a colossal 53-g impact. Although he suffered no broken bones, Trice was inevitably ruled out of the Brands Hatch finale (for which he would have been in title contention without the incident) and it resulted in a long recovery – one that compromised last season, when he agreed a late deal with new squad Clean Racing.

“I didn’t get to train over the winter because I was injured from the accident but, I’m not going to lie, it took a good two-three weekends of racing before I really got Toby back,” he admits. “It was an incredible, strange and scary experience but that’s all behind me now.

“Last year we signed the deal really late in the day – Friday practice was our first drive in the new RS [upgraded Cayman model]. This season, however, me and my sponsors have drummed together with a proper pre-season plan, which is brilliant – I’ve never had that luxury before of pre-season testing. I’m coming with a lot of fitness behind me, I’ve been working hard over the winter, a fresh head and all focused on the outright title.”

Trice is understandably keen to hit the ground running after failing to score a podium last year as he finished seventh in the standings. And, although many of the 2024 frontrunners have moved on, two-time race winner Joe Marshall has switched to Team Parker Racing and will pose a major threat. Then there is triple Mini Challenge conqueror Dan Zelos, who has entered the world of rear-wheel drive for the first time.

“My driving style is going to have to change massively in these cars,” explains the Graves Motorsport driver. “There’s a lot more power, the engine’s behind me rather than in front and the weight distribution is completely different. So I’m not expecting to light up the times straight away, but we’re here to learn – it’s the first day at school again.”

However, given the manner in which Zelos rapidly got up to speed during his British Touring Car cameo last year, it is unlikely to be long before he is challenging Trice, Marshall and co. at the front.

British Formula 4

Piszcyk is one of a whole host of drivers who could be in F4 title contention

Photo by: JEP

This year’s British Formula 4 championship appears to be wide open, certainly on paper at least. Seven of last year’s top 10 are set to progress to GB3 (which also gets under way this weekend), meaning there is a dearth of sophomore drivers that are proven frontrunners and instead plenty of newcomers who could be in the mix. “There’s a good 15 of us that I reckon could be P1,” reckons Tommy Harfield, one of the deluge of debutants and is part of Chris Dittmann Racing’s line-up.

Harfield endured a truncated campaign last year when he injured in his hand in an F4 testing crash at Knockhill but had been a Fiesta Junior pacesetter. In previous times, progressing from Fiestas to F4 may have raised a few eyebrows, yet the past two Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award winners – Deagen Fairclough and Joseph Loake – have started out in the tin-tops and Harfield is aiming to follow in their footsteps. “I think people don’t realise there are similarities between the cars,” he says. “I know Fiestas are front-wheel drive, but these F4 cars with the halo are quite weighted at the front, so there are similarities.”

But Harfield will face rivals with far more F4 experience. Of those to have previously competed in the series, the one to have finished highest in the standings was not even on the grid last year. Jimmy Piszcyk finished fifth in 2023 with Hitech before returning to his native Australia and winning its relaunched F4 contest. Now he is unexpectedly back on British shores and is one of the favourites for glory.

“We weren’t really planning on doing anything and then this opportunity arose with Rodin Motorsport and we thought, ‘this is an amazing opportunity and let’s go do it!’” smiles Piszcyk, who feels he is a much different driver compared to his previous spell in British F4. “I think I’m a little bit faster – I mean, I hope I’m a little bit faster! I think I’ve probably matured a little bit. On track I’ve learnt a lot more and understand what I want from a car.”

Of the other sophomores, Leo Robinson was highest in the 2024 table having finished sixth with three wins. He has now swapped JHR for Hitech – where he is joined by Red Bull Junior Fionn McLaughlin and Thomas Bearman, younger brother of Haas F1 star, Ollie – and is aiming to replicate the successful switch that Fairclough previously enjoyed.

Molnar is one of the few F4 drivers with continuity as he stays with Virtuosi for another campaign

Photo by: JEP

Meanwhile, Martin Molnar remains with Virtuosi and is buoyed by a confidence-boosting Jake Cook Memorial Award win where F4 team bosses selected the Hungarian as the most-improved driver during last year. Rowan Campbell-Pilling is also back for another attack having finished 10th last term and swaps Argenti for JHR. “We got an offer from every team on the grid last year, which is incredible,” says Campbell-Pilling, who is “not leaving a stone unturned” in his pursuit of the title, including having lost weight over the winter.

Among the newcomers, a trio of Ginetta Junior stars are likely to be key contenders. Champion Ethan Jeff-Hall enjoyed an “unreal” season last year as he also achieved world karting success and secured the backing of Mercedes, and is now among Argenti’s line-up. Rival Henry Joslyn is part of Fortec’s assault and fellow frontrunner Chase Fernandez is part of an expanded and bolstered Xcel Motorsport attack for its second season in the series.

Fernandez reckons the trio have faced a fair bit of adapting from the G40 machines they were previously used to: “The driving style is so different – the Ginetta Junior is quite a forgiving car, whereas the formula car, if you’re one millimetre off the racing line, it’s going to mess with your whole lap.”

And so the list of potential leading contenders goes on. Suddenly it is not hard to see why Harfield reckons there could be 15 drivers all featuring at the front.

Mini Challenge

NAPA Minis are likely to be fighting at the front

Photo by: Gary Hawkins

There will be a distinctly different feel to the Mini Challenge this year. After six seasons as a regular frontrunner (including claiming three titles), reigning champion Dan Zelos is off to pastures new as he attempts to crack real-wheel-drive sportscars, while runner-up Max Hall has landed a full-time British Touring Car drive that has once again proven elusive for his old Excelr8 team-mate.

But there are still some familiar features for the start of this new era. The NAPA Racing Minis that have regularly run at the front in recent seasons are back and, this time, there are four of them. Jamie Osborne once again spearheads the team’s line-up and will be seeking a full title bid having failed to win en route to fourth in last year’s standings. Former Mini 7 Racing Club contender Lewis Selby was a race victor last term and is back for another attack, while they will be joined by Alex Solley – who has previously acted as a mechanic for the team and was a perennial frontrunner among the Coopers of the Mini Challenge Trophy – and JCW Sport graduate Cameron Richardson.

Nathan Edwards and Tom Ovenden are set to lead Excelr8’s charge – the team having powered the champion in all apart from one of the five seasons since the Minis joined the BTCC bill. Edwards was third last year and Ovenden, who defeated Edwards to land the Cooper crown in 2023, was sixth in last season’s table and both will be looking to improve this time around.

Among the new entrants, arguably the most intriguing is two-time Civic Cup champion Max Edmundson. He has defeated a cast of star names to achieve his Honda success and will now be trying his hand at a new challenge as the Pro Alloys Racing squad also makes its series debut. Reigning Cooper title winner Harry Hickton also graduates with Mannpower Motorsport, while his team-mate will be fellow former Junior Saloons ace Charlie Hand – who is due to make a return to racing after suffering injuries in an Oulton Park British Endurance Championship crash two years ago.

Elsewhere, the JCW Sport class was a new 2024 addition – designed to bridge the performance and budget gap between the JCWs and the Coopers – and is set to feature an expanded entry. Among those to have signed up is Fiesta ST240 Challenge frontrunner Henry Howarth (Jamsport).

Cooper champion Hickton is stepping up to JCWs this year