Forthcoming UK Events
| Date | Event | Location |
| 06-08.07.2012 | Formula 1 British Grand Prix | Silverstone (Arena GP) |
| 01-03.06.2012 | British Drift Championship | Norfolk Arena |
| 23-24.06.2012 | MG Live 2012 | Silverstone |
| 25-26.08.2012 | FIA World Endurance Championship | Silverstone |
The 2012 Season Starts Here
The last week has seen a flurry of activity as championships big and small held their annual media days and opening tests, with some already even getting down to racing proper. The British Touring Car Championship heads strongly into a new all-turbo generation and this year boasts 10 models from nine different marques on its 24-car grid, including the technicolour liveried return of the MG name.
The BTCC season opener hits Brands Hatch on 1st April, followed a week later by the first rounds of the British GT Championship and the British F3 International Series at Oulton Park. While some single-seater formulae have struggled in recent times - Formula Renault postponing its UK series due to poor entries - British F3 continues to attract young talent. With recent champions including the Scuderia Toro Rosso pairing of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, its status as a stepping-stone to Formula 1 is hard to dispute.
Read more...Donington Park Back on the World Stage
- Details
- Category: Home Page Editorials
- Saturday, 16 July 2011
Having missed out on its F1 bid, and subsequently also lost its MotoGP contract (not to mention LMS, FIA GT, DTM and a host of other regulars at the circuit), Donington was left with the big three British championships, BTCC, F3 and GT, as the remaining jewels in its stripped out calendar, so the announcement at the end of last year that WTCC would be holding its mid-season scrap on its famous curves is great news.
The series lands for round 7 of 12 and with Brit Rob Huff currently leading the title fight ahead of reigning champion, Yvan Muller, the racing should be as frantic as touring car fans have come to expect. There's perhaps less variety in the results than BTCC with its reverse-grid third race, but throw in the unpredictable weather - at time of writing, it's hammering down - and plenty of on-track excitement should be forthcoming.
In Friday practice it was Muller who set the pace, but reigning Scandinavian Touring Car champ, Robert Dahlgren in the new-for-2011 Polestar Volvo C30 was close behind, ahead of Alain Menu and Rob Huff. The rain for Saturday's first practice has changed things, with Rob Huff and Yvan Muller breaking away from the field, Huff eventually taking the fastest time of the morning. Dahlgren dropped to fourth behind some-time F1 driver, Tiago Monteiro in the Sunred Engineering Seat Leon.
Qualifying begins this afternoon at 2pm and with two races set to thrill the crowds as part of a huge Sunday race timetable, we're hoping this is the start of Donington's climb back to greatness. There's still the matter of an enormous hole where much of the spectator banking used to be, but we hear they're working on that...
