2009 British Touring Car Championship
The 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 52nd British Touring Car Championship 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.
Entry list
Driver changes
Changed teams- Tom Chilton: Team Dynamics → Team Aon
- Mat Jackson: BMW Dealer Team UK → RML/Racing Silverline
- Adam Jones: Team Air Cool → Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing
- Andrew Jordan: Team Eurotech → VX Racing
- Tom Onslow-Cole: VX Racing → Team Aon
- Jason Plato: SEAT Sport → RML/Racing Silverline
- Gordon Shedden: Team Dynamics → Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing/Club SEAT
- Harry Vaulkhard: Robertshaw Racing → Tempus Sport/bamboo engineering
- Jonathan Adam: SEAT Cupra Championship → Airwaves BMW
- Dan Eaves: Three-year sabbatical → Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing
- Matt Hamilton: FIA GT4 European Cup → TH Motorsport
- Johnny Herbert: Speedcar Series → Team Dynamics
- Martin Johnson: Renault Clio Cup → Boulevard Team Racing
- Nick Leason: 18-month sabbatical → AFM Racing
- Liam McMillan: SEAT León Supercopa → Maxtreme
- Alan Morrison: Five-year sabbatical → Team Aon
- James Nash: SEAT León Eurocup → RML
- Paul O'Neill: British GT Championship → Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport
- David Pinkney: British GT Championship → Team Dynamics
- Anthony Reid: Porsche Carrera Cup → Team RAC
- James Thompson: World Touring Car Championship → Team Dynamics
- Michael Doyle: In-Tune Racing → Unknown
- Mike Jordan: Team Eurotech → Britcar
- Steven Kane: Motorbase Performance → FIA Formula Two Championship Test Driver
- Erkut Kızılırmak: Arkas Racing → Turkish Touring Car Championship
- Stuart Oliver: BTC Racing → Truck racing only
- Chris Stockton: BTC Racing → Unknown
- Alan Taylor: Robertshaw Racing → Unknown
- Darren Turner: SEAT Sport → Le Mans Series and FIA GT Championship
- Gordon Shedden was replaced by James Thompson at Team Dynamics after the opening race weekend.
- Liam McMillan and Nick Leason's respective teams both dropped out after the first three rounds.
- Tom Onslow-Cole replaced Alan Morrison at Team Aon at Croft. The team ran a single car for Tom Chilton in the subsequent two meetings.
- Martyn Bell missed rounds six and seven due to a knee injury; he was not replaced, leaving Paul O'Neill to race the sole Techspeed entry.
- Shedden replaced Dan Eaves at Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing ahead of round six of the championship.
- Thompson will miss the final three race weekends due to other commitments. He has been replaced at Team Dynamics by Johnny Herbert.
- Anthony Reid raced a third Team RAC car from Silverstone.
- Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing left the championship before Silverstone.
- Matt Hamilton joined the series at Rockingham.
- Shedden returned to the series at Rockingham under the Club SEAT banner.
Calendar
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
- Note: bold signifies pole position, italics signifies fastest lap and
* signifies at least one lap in the lead.Manufacturers/Constructors Championship
- * Vauxhall penalised 10 points for exceeding engine limit.
Teams Championship
- * VX Racing, Racing Silverline and Tempus Sport penalised 10 points for exceeding engine limit.
Independents Trophy
Independent Teams Trophy
- * Racing Silverline and Tempus Sport penalised 10 points for exceeding engine limit.