Bumper grid for 2004 season - 16/03/04

24 cars feature on the official entry list for the 2004 BTCC season, released at the series media launch at Donington Park. With Vauxhall, MG, Honda, Proton and Seat registered for the Manufacturers’ championship, the new season will see the biggest grid for the series since the mid-nineties.

Honda and MG have both named just one driver at this stage, with youngsters Tom Chilton and Colin Turkington respectively. Both are expected to confirm full details of their line-ups soon. Alain Menu continues to be linked with the Arena Honda team – and if confirmed, he will join Yvan Muller, James Thompson and Jason Plato in an impressive line-up of champions from the past four seasons of the BTCC.

The Independents Cup looks set to be highly competitive with 11 cars entered. Unveiled at Donington was Michael Bentwood and the VX Racing Junior team, being run by the experienced Tech-Speed motorsport. 2003 champion Rob Collard returns to defend his title, and is joined by runner-up James Kaye (Synchro Motorsport). Popular independents Team Dynamics make a full-time return to the series, announcing a strong driver line-up of Matt Neal and Gareth Howell.

With Toca stating that it expects more entries to be received ahead of the opening round at Thruxton, as well as the possibility of “a real surprise entry as we get further into the season” (Alan Gow), 2004 looks set to be a bumper year for the BTCC.

There is plenty more to come from Donington Park here on BTCCPages.com so check back soon for a full update!