Types of car
BTCC will be contested primarily by cars complying with the FIA's Super 2000 technical regulations. S2000 is the same formula as used in the World Touring Car Championship. This has required teams to use a model of car that is readily available for purchase in a manufacturer's showroom across Europe. The old BTC-spec cars, that populated the grid from 2001-06, will still be permitted to compete, but will not be eligible to win the Drivers' and Manufacturers' championship outright. Uniquely, the BTCC remains the only touring car championship in the world that allows cars powered by petrol, diesel, gas or bio-ethanol to compete.
Race weekend format
The BTCC season consists of ten meetings, each featuring three races (or rounds) of equal distance. That's 30 rounds for the entire season, with points in all 30 counting towards each driver's end-of-season score.The three rounds take place on Sundays (race days). Saturdays are used to stage the practice and qualifying sessions. On Saturday morning there are two 40-minute practice sessions that enable the teams and drivers to hone their cars to suit each circuit's characteristics. In the afternoon, a 30-minute qualifying session is held. The times from this decide the starting grid order for the first of Sunday's three rounds. If drivers have set equal times, the one who set it first will start ahead of the other.The starting grid for the second of Sunday's three rounds is decided by the finishing order of the first race. Sunday's third round grid is decided by the finishing order of the second race but, uniquely, with the leading positions reversed. The number of positions to be reversed becomes known only after race two when the winner draws a random number between six and ten.
Success ballast
After both the first and second races on Sunday, the following weight handicaps are added to the top five finishers' cars before the start of races two and three respectively: 1st -45kgs; 2nd -36kgs; 3rd -27kgs; 4th -18kgs; 5th -9kgs. Sixth place or lower does not carry any ballast. After race three, the same amounts of ballast are added to the cars of the top five drivers in the championship in time for the next race meeting when their cars must take part in practice, qualifying and race one carrying that extra weight. Ballast allocation is decided by the order in which the drivers cross the finish line - eg. if a driver finishes race one in second place but is then relegated to tenth in the official results (possibly due to a rules infringement) their car must still carry second-placed ballast in race two.