2014 HSCC Super Touring Championship season preview
While the top teams in the British Touring Car Championship get stuck in to pre-season testing, a host of drivers are preparing for the first official season of the HSCC Super Touring Championship.
Having enjoyed success in its debut at the 2012 Silverstone Classic, the Super Tourers returned to the Silverstone Classic in 2013, while making appearances at three HSCC events during the year, attracting the crowds everywhere they went.
For 2014, the HSCC has officially granted the series Championship status, visiting the same circuits it competed at in 2013. The only addition to the 2014 calendar is the slot on the BTCC support bill at Oulton Park, where one of the two races across the weekend will be broadcast live on ITV4. Draft regulations state that points will be awarded to the top six finishers in a 9-6-4-3-2-1 format per class. A bonus point awarded to the driver with the fastest lap of each class.
HSCC Super Touring Championship Calendar 2014
19-20 April – Thruxton Easter Revival
07-08 June – Oulton Park BTCC
12-13 July – Brands Hatch Historic Superprix
25-27 July – Silverstone Classic
23-25 August – Oulton Park Gold Cup
It is hoped that the temptation of a full season challenge for the title will be enough to tempt more drivers to the opening round at Thruxton after only a small grid appeared in 2013. However, series organiser Jonny Westbrook is confident of a much stronger grid in 2014, with the likes of John Cleland and Patrick Watts expected to bring their cars along to challenge 2013 front-runners Stewart Whyte and James Dodd at the Easter Revival.
Meanwhile the organisers at the Silverstone Classic, one of the highlights of the calendar, are anticipating a mammoth grid at the biggest historic racing event in Europe. More than 50 cars are hoped to make an appearance in the July double header.
“The renaissance of the Super Touring era just gets better and better,” exclaimed Silverstone Classic Event Director, Nick Wigley. “Thanks to great television coverage, these cars and drivers became household names back in the 1990s, so it’s absolutely no surprise that they are proving every bit as popular second time around. The two previous races at last year’s Classic were just fantastic and, in typical touring car style, ended in controversy following a clash on the final lap! Now, with even more great cars on the grid, July’s two ‘sleeves up’ showdowns promise to provide even more thrills and spills.”
Another new addition for 2014 is a newly appointed driving standards adjudicator and a judge of fact, after strong racing in 2013 was marred by a number of avoidable clashes, most notably at the Classic and at the season-closing Oulton Park Gold Cup. Westbrook also stated that they will be very stringent on entry, with each car having to have a championship ‘passport’ before an entry will be accepted.
While the opening round is still over two months away, competitors are hard at work to get their cars out on track. Photos have surfaced of Simon Garrad’s 1999 Renault Laguna, back in its Nescafe livery as driven by Jean-Christophe Boullion, while Paul Smith’s BMW 318i has returned to its Jonny Cecotto driven-1995 Goldeneye livery. Meanwhile, Cleland Motorsport has kept its fans updated with the progress on the winter rebuild of its Vauxhall Vectra.
