Colin Turkington became the first Northern Irish driver to win the Championship

Jason Plato came second, with only a 5-point margin

Italy’s Fabrizio Giovanardi came third in the championship, 4 points behind Jason Plato

Colin Turkington became the first Northern Irish winner of the championship. In addition, he wrapped up a third consecutive independents' driver title, with his Team RAC also picking up the Independent Teams Trophy.

The 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 52nd British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. It began at Brands Hatch on the Indy layout on 5 April and finished after 30 races over 10 events on the Grand Prix layout at Brands Hatch on 4 October. Colin Turkington won the championship for the first time, ahead of Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi.

The season also saw Airwaves BMW score their first win in the series when Rob Collard won the second race of the day at the opening meeting at Brands Hatch. The team seemed to have added a second win in race three as Jonathan Adam crossed the line first but he was demoted to second after making contact with Jason Plato handing Plato the win.

Andrew Jordan became the youngest driver to qualify on pole at Donington after team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi was excluded for failing technical checks.

Also, Stephen Jelley took his first win in the series at the first race at Rockingham. He followed this up with another victory in race 3, a race that saw Tom Chilton become the first driver to score a podium position in a Ford Focus following a collision between Plato, Turkington and Plato's team mate James Nash.

At the final meeting at Brands Hatch, Chilton took pole position becoming the first Ford driver to do so since 2000. All three races were won by Jason Plato, becoming only the second driver to do so following Dan Eaves' hat-trick at Thruxton in 2005; but this was not enough to win the title. Colin Turkington became British Touring Car Champion for the first time, coincidentally becoming the first Northern Irishman to do so.

Former British Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert contested the final three meetings in a Team Dynamics Honda Civic.

Changes for 2009

Triple 8 continued to run Vauxhall Vectras under the VX Racing banner, retaining the reigning double Champion Fabrizio Giovanardi and Matt Neal but replacing Tom Onslow-Cole with Andrew Jordan. The Vauxhall Astra Coupe made a return after a two-year absence with Renault Clio Cup graduates Boulevard Team Racing with Martin Johnson driving an Astra previously run by Erkut Kizilirmak in the Turkish Touring Car Championship.

After SEAT withdrew at the end of 2008, Jason Plato made a last minute switch to an RML Group-run Chevrolet Lacetti under the Racing Silverline banner. As the season progressed, the team expanded to include 2008 Runner-up Mat Jackson and newcomer James Nash. Tempus Sport also entered a Lacetti for Harry Vaulkhard, a second entry was registered but never materialised and the team pulled out mid-season with Vaulkhard's entry taken over by Bamboo Engineering for the remainder of the season.

WSR retained Colin Turkington and Stephen Jelley and expanded to three cars with Anthony Reid returning for the last three meetings to help Turkington's title challenge. Motorbase Performance entered as Airwaves BMW with Rob Collard as lead driver but Steven Kane was replaced by double SEAT Cupra Champion Jonathan Adam. After sitting out the 2008 season, Team AFM Racing returned with their diesel-powered BMW 1 Series, this time with Nick Leason driving but the team pulled out after three meetings.

After a three-year absence, Arena Motorsport returned under the Team Aon banner, bringing Ford back to the BTCC for the first time since 2000. The team ran a pair of Ford Focuses for Tom Chilton and former Production Class Champion Alan Morrison but Morrison left after the first four meetings and was replaced by Tom Onslow-Cole.

Having previously tried and failed to enter bio-ethanol powered Chevrolets in 2007, Team Clyde Valley Racing finally made their debut under the Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing banner, running bio-ethanol powered SEAT Leons. Former Independent's Champion Dan Eaves was the team's lead driver, Indian driver Phiroze Bilimoria was originally signed to partner Eaves, but before the season started, Bilimoria was replaced by Adam Jones. Eaves stood down mid-season and was replaced by Gordon Shedden but the team only lasted a couple more meetings before pulling out completely. Shedden returned for the last two meetings with his SEAT now run by GR Asia under the Club SEAT banner. Newcomers Maxtreme entered Liam McMillan in one of the SEAT Toledos that BTC Racing ran in 2008 but pulled out after just three meetings. BTC Racing initially planned to upgrade to a pair of SEAT Leons but shelved these plans before the season started.

Team Dynamics once again ran a pair of Super 2000 Honda Civics, initially retaining Gordon Shedden and replacing Tom Chilton with the returning David Pinkney. Shedden was replaced by returning former double Champion James Thompson after the first meeting. Thompson lasted six meetings before being replaced by ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert for the remainder of the season. After two seasons of running the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, Tech-Speed switched to a pair of ex-Team Dynamics Honda Integras with Martyn Bell entering his second season with the team and Paul O'Neill joining for what would be his first full season since 2003. TH Motorsport continued to run a Honda Integra for John George and entered a Civic Type-R for Matt Hamilton in the final two meetings. A possible late-season return for Michael Doyle and his In-Tune Racing Civic was hinted at but never eventuated.

Jason Hughes intended to continue running his MG ZS but was forced to sit out the first four meetings and ultimately never raced. Other notable failed entries included Paul Luti in a Dreadnought-run MG and Ian Court in a self-run Alfa Romeo 156.

Entry list

Team	Car	No	Drivers	Rounds
Constructor Entries
VX Racing	Vauxhall Vectra	1	Fabrizio Giovanardi	All
		5	Matt Neal	All
		77	Andrew Jordan	All
Independent Constructor Entries
Team Aon	Ford Focus ST	6	Tom Onslow-Cole	5, 8–10
		10	Tom Chilton	All
		20	Alan Morrison	1–4
Team Dynamics	Honda Civic	35	James Thompson	2–7
		45	Johnny Herbert	8–10
		52	Gordon Shedden	1
		55	David Pinkney	All
Independent S2000 Entries
Racing Silverline	Chevrolet Lacetti	2	Mat Jackson	3–10
		3	Jason Plato	2–10
RML				1
		2	Mat Jackson	2
		23	James Nash	4–6, 8–9
Team RAC	BMW 320si	4	Colin Turkington	All
		14	Anthony Reid	8–10
		44	Stephen Jelley	All
Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing	SEAT León	9	Adam Jones	1–6
		85	Dan Eaves	1–5
		52	Gordon Shedden	6–7
Club SEAT				9–10
Airwaves BMW	BMW 320si	11	Rob Collard	All
		12	Jonathan Adam	All
Team AFM Racing	BMW 120d	16	Nick Leason	1–3
Tempus Sport	Chevrolet Lacetti	17	Harry Vaulkhard	1–5
bamboo engineering				6–10
Maxtreme	SEAT Toledo Cupra	27	Liam McMillan	1–3
Independent BTC-T Entries
Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport	Honda Integra Type-R	15	Martyn Bell	1–5, 8, 10
		29	Paul O'Neill	2–10
TH Motorsport Racing with JAG	Honda Integra Type-R	50	John George	All
TH Motorsport Racing with Inten	Honda Civic Type-R	98	Matt Hamilton	9–10
Boulevard Team Racing	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	63	Martin Johnson	All

Calendar

All races were held in the United Kingdom. The 2009 season had ten race weekends with three BTCC rounds at each. Provisional dates were announced by series organisers on 11 July 2008.^[1] The calendar was finalised on 17 March 2009, when all race timetables were announced.^[2]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1	R1	Brands Hatch Indy, Kent	5 April	Matt Neal	Rob Collard	Matt Neal	VX Racing
	R2				Matt Neal	Rob Collard	Airwaves BMW
	R3				Jonathan Adam	Jason Plato	RML
2	R4	Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire	26 April	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Fabrizio Giovanardi	VX Racing
	R5				Fabrizio Giovanardi	Colin Turkington	Team RAC
	R6				Mat Jackson	Mat Jackson	RML
3	R7	Donington Park, Leicestershire	17 May	Andrew Jordan	Mat Jackson	James Thompson	Team Dynamics
	R8				Fabrizio Giovanardi	James Thompson	Team Dynamics
	R9				Paul O'Neill	Rob Collard	Airwaves BMW
4	R10	Oulton Park, Cheshire	31 May	Jason Plato	Mat Jackson	Colin Turkington	Team RAC
	R11				Colin Turkington	Colin Turkington	Team RAC
	R12				Rob Collard	James Thompson	Team Dynamics
5	R13	Croft Circuit, North Yorkshire	14 June	Colin Turkington	Colin Turkington	Colin Turkington	Team RAC
	R14				Colin Turkington	Colin Turkington	Team RAC
	R15				Andrew Jordan	Fabrizio Giovanardi	VX Racing
6	R16	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk	2 August	Jason Plato	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Fabrizio Giovanardi	VX Racing
	R17				Jason Plato	Fabrizio Giovanardi	VX Racing
	R18				Jason Plato	Colin Turkington	Team RAC
7	R19	Knockhill Racing Circuit, Fife	16 August	Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Racing Silverline
	R20				Fabrizio Giovanardi	Fabrizio Giovanardi	VX Racing
	R21				Jason Plato	Mat Jackson	Racing Silverline
8	R22	Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire	30 August	Mat Jackson	James Nash	Mat Jackson	Racing Silverline
	R23				Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Racing Silverline
	R24				Mat Jackson	Mat Jackson	Racing Silverline
9	R25	Rockingham Motor Speedway, Northamptonshire	20 September	Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Stephen Jelley	Team RAC
	R26				Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Racing Silverline
	R27				Stephen Jelley	Stephen Jelley	Team RAC
10	R28	Brands Hatch GP, Kent	4 October	Tom Chilton	Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Racing Silverline
	R29				Matt Neal	Jason Plato	Racing Silverline
	R30				Gordon Shedden	Jason Plato	Racing Silverline

Championship standings

• No driver may collect more than one "Lead a Lap" point per race no matter how many laps they lead.
• Race 1 polesitter receives 1 point.

Drivers Championship

Pos	Driver	BHI			THR			DON			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			SIL			ROC			BHGP			Pts
1	Colin Turkington	3*	2*	4	4	1*	9	Ret	5	2	1*	1*	11	1*	1*	6	5	2	1	4	3	5	4	4	3	10	4	4	8	3	2*	275
2	Jason Plato	6	10	1*	10	6	4	7	4	3	2	3	5	3	3	5	Ret	3	13	1*	Ret	2	2	1*	7	2	1*	12	1*	1*	1*	270
3	Fabrizio Giovanardi	2	16	Ret	1*	2*	8	8	3	5	4	2	6	5	5	1*	1*	1*	2	6	1*	3	5	2	5	6	3	11	3	2	4	266
4	Matt Neal	1*	3	3	2	3	7	3	2	8	7	4	3	6	6	8	9	14	3	Ret	4	4	10	Ret	13	Ret	NC	Ret	5	8	5*	170
5	Mat Jackson				8	9	1*	10	6	4	19	Ret	8	Ret	DNS	DNS	2	NC	DNS	3	2	1*	1*	3*	1*	3	2*	5	12	12	11	165
6	Rob Collard	4*	1*	8	17	5	5	4	9	1*	9	Ret	4	4	4	7	Ret	7	Ret*	Ret	12	Ret	6*	9	2*	4	Ret	Ret	6	4	Ret	145
7	Stephen Jelley	7	4	Ret	7	4	6	Ret	DNS	DNS	5	14	Ret	2	2	3	6	13	Ret	8	8	10	7	12	4	1*	6*	1*	14	11	6	137
8	Jonathan Adam	Ret	9	2*	12	11	12	6	7	13	3	5	13	7	Ret	9	4	6	8	5	7	Ret	8	7	6	5*	5	6	7	5	8	116
9	James Thompson				11	7	3	1*	1*	6	8	7	1*	11	9	2*	Ret	4	5	Ret	6	6*										114
10	Andrew Jordan	Ret	5	Ret	3	18	16	2	Ret	11	10	6	2	8	7	4	12*	12	4	7	10	7	12	6	15	7	8	2*	4	16	Ret	114
11	Adam Jones	5	7	7	6	8	2	9	8	Ret	6	8	7	16	8	Ret	7	11	7													62
12	Paul O'Neill				5	10	Ret	Ret	11	16	12	9	9	9	10	Ret*	3	5	6	9	5	9	9	10	9	9	Ret	Ret	9	7	Ret	60
13	Tom Chilton	11	14	11	15	17	Ret	12	17	9	13	12	Ret	Ret	DNS	10	11	Ret	Ret	11	11	8	11	5	Ret	18	9	3*	2*	6*	3	55
14	Gordon Shedden	Ret	6	5													Ret	10	12	2	9*	Ret				12	Ret	8	Ret	10	9	34
15	James Nash										11	Ret	17	13	15	Ret	NC	8	DSQ				3	Ret	8	8	7	Ret				24
16	Harry Vaulkhard	8	11	9	9	12	11	5	10	7	Ret	15	12	Ret	DNS	DNS	10	9	Ret	10	Ret	11	14	11	11	13	11	Ret	11	13	Ret	22
17	Dan Eaves	9	8	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNS	16	13	14	Ret	DNS	DNS																10
18	David Pinkney	15	13	Ret	14	13	10	14	12	10	15	11	Ret	10	11	Ret	8	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	16	10	15	13	Ret	15	14	10	10
19	Johnny Herbert																						13	8	Ret	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	14	8
20	Anthony Reid																						Ret	14	12	11	12	Ret	10	Ret	7	5
21	Tom Onslow-Cole													Ret	NC	Ret							Ret	13	14	14	Ret	9	13	9	12	4
22	Martin Johnson	12	Ret	13	16	16	14	11	16	12	18	16	Ret	12	12	Ret	14	15	10	12	13	13	Ret	DNS	16	16	14	10	Ret	DNS	DNS	2
23	Martyn Bell	10	12	10	13	14	13	15	15	19	17	17	15	15	13	11							15	15	18				17	Ret	Ret	2
24	Alan Morrison	13	15	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	16	13	15	14	10	10																			2
25	John George	Ret	Ret	14	18	15	Ret	17	14	17	Ret	DNS	16	14	14	12	13	16	11	13	14	14	16	17	17	17	Ret	13	16	15	Ret	0
26	Liam McMillan	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	19	Ret	13	Ret	14																						0
27	Matt Hamilton																									Ret	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	13	0
28	Nick Leason	Ret	17	15	NC	20	15	Ret	Ret	18																						0
Pos	Driver	BHI			THR			DON			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			SIL			ROC			BHGP			Pts

• Note: bold signifies pole position (1 point given in first race only, and race 2 and 3 poles are based on race results), italics signifies fastest lap (1 point given all races) and * signifies at least one lap in the lead (1 point given all races).

Independents Trophy

Pos	Driver	BHI			THR			DON			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			SIL			ROC			BHGP			Pts
1	Colin Turkington	3	2	4	4	1	9	Ret	5	2	1	1	11	1	1	6	5	2	1	4	3	5	4	4	3	10	4	4	8	3	2	313
2	Jason Plato	6	10	1	10	6	4	7	4	3	2	3	5	3	3	5	Ret	3	13	1	Ret	2	2	1	7	2	1	12	1	1	1	283
3	Mat Jackson				8	9	1	10	6	4	19	Ret	8	Ret	DNS	DNS	2	NC	DNS	3	2	1	1	3	1	3	2	5	12	12	11	183
4	Rob Collard	4	1	8	17	5	5	4	9	1	9	Ret	4	4	4	7	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	6	9	2	4	Ret	Ret	6	4	Ret	173
5	Stephen Jelley	7	4	Ret	7	4	6	Ret	DNS	DNS	5	14	Ret	2	2	3	6	13	Ret	8	8	10	7	12	4	1	6	1	14	11	6	165
6	Jonathan Adam	Ret	9	2	12	11	12	6	7	13	3	5	13	7	Ret	9	4	6	8	5	7	Ret	8	7	6	5	5	6	7	5	8	159
7	James Thompson				11	7	3	1	1	6	8	7	1	11	9	2	Ret	4	5	Ret	6	6										144
8	Paul O'Neill				5	10	Ret	Ret	11	16	12	9	9	9	10	Ret	3	5	6	9	5	9	9	10	9	9	Ret	Ret	9	7	Ret	110
9	Adam Jones	5	7	7	6	8	2	9	8	Ret	6	8	7	16	8	Ret	7	11	7													98
10	Tom Chilton	11	14	11	15	17	Ret	12	17	9	13	12	Ret	Ret	DNS	10	11	Ret	Ret	11	11	8	11	5	Ret	18	9	3	2	6	3	83
11	Harry Vaulkhard	8	11	9	9	12	11	5	10	7	Ret	15	12	Ret	DNS	DNS	10	9	Ret	10	Ret	11	14	11	11	13	11	Ret	11	13	Ret	58
12	Gordon Shedden	Ret	6	5													Ret	10	12	2	9	Ret				12	Ret	8	Ret	10	9	48
13	David Pinkney	15	13	Ret	14	13	10	14	12	10	15	11	Ret	10	11	Ret	8	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	16	10	15	13	Ret	15	14	10	33
14	James Nash										11	Ret	17	13	15	Ret	NC	8	DSQ				3	Ret	8	8	7	Ret				32
15	Martin Johnson	12	Ret	13	16	16	14	11	16	12	18	16	Ret	12	12	Ret	14	15	10	12	13	13	Ret	DNS	16	16	14	10	Ret	DNS	DNS	19
16	Dan Eaves	9	8	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNS	16	13	14	Ret	DNS	DNS																16
17	Johnny Herbert																						13	8	Ret	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret	14	14
18	Anthony Reid																						Ret	14	12	11	12	Ret	10	Ret	7	13
19	Martyn Bell	10	12	10	13	14	13	15	15	19	17	17	15	15	13	11							15	15	18				17	Ret	Ret	11
20	Tom Onslow-Cole													Ret	NC	Ret							Ret	13	14	14	Ret	9	13	9	12	9
21	Alan Morrison	13	15	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	16	13	15	14	10	10																			8
22	John George	Ret	Ret	14	18	15	Ret	17	14	17	Ret	DNS	16	14	14	12	13	16	11	13	14	14	16	17	17	17	Ret	13	16	15	Ret	6
23	Liam McMillan	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	19	Ret	13	Ret	14																						1
24	Matt Hamilton																									Ret	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	13	0
25	Nick Leason	Ret	17	15	NC	20	15	Ret	Ret	18																						0
Pos	Driver	BHI			THR			DON			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			SIL			ROC			BHGP			Pts

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2009 in British Touring Car Championship.

• Official website of the British Touring Car Championship