This week’s F1 alternative: BTCC Thruxton

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There’s plenty of good racing on this weekend while F1 has its last weekend off before the championship decider.

Top of the bill has to be the thrillingly close title duel between Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi in British Touring Cars that’s been raging all year.

But if you like your racing with a fat pinch of controversy, the Audi vs Mercedes grudge match in the DTM is essential viewing.

BTCC, Thruxton

A mere nine points separate Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi ahead of the final triple-header round at Thruxton this weekend. Each of their teams have drafted in high-profile ringers from the WTCC for the final round – Seat bringing ex-F1 driver Gabriele Tarquini, Vauxhall two-time BTCC champion Alain Menu.

Plato is fortunate to be racing at all following a fiery accident while testing a Caparo T1 earlier this week. (And Giovanardi is just as lucky, having shared a car with me at Thruxton on Tuesday.)

And even if you’re overseas you can watch the race live as ITV are streaming it live online at www.itv.com – if only they could do the same for F1!

Read more about the British Touring Car Championship at Maximum Motorsport.

DTM & F3 Euroseries, Hockenheimring

Expect more drama at the Hockenheimring as the German Touring Car Championship wraps up. Audi caused a scandal last time by withdrawing all its cars and claiming the Mercedes drivers were causing deliberate crashes. Audi’s Martyn Tomcyk and Mattias Ekstrom are up against Mercedes’ Bruno Spengler for the title.

Meanwhile the F3 Euroseries has been a more civil affair this year and Renault Development’s Romain Grosjean leads Sebastien Buemi ahead of the final two races. Either of these drivers could quite conceivably be in F1 in a year or two, so don’t miss it.

Read more about the DTM at Maximum Motorsport.
Read more about the Formula Three Euroseries at Maximum Motorsport.

A1 Grand Prix, Brno

A1GP has made some interesting announcements recently, revealing that Ferrari will supply its engines and chassis next year.

The action on the track tends to be even more interesting, with around half a dozen teams looking capable of challenging for the championship on the strength of their performances at Zandvoort two weeks ago.

Read more about A1 Grand Prix at Maximum Motorsport.

What motor racing are you watching this weekend? Are you off to a track somewhere? Let us know below…

Photo: TOCA

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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3 comments on “This week’s F1 alternative: BTCC Thruxton”

  1. How about last weekend’s alternative, the Bathurst 1000? Fantastic race… I ended up skipping most of the Chinese GP as it couldn’t hold a candle to the action on the mountain once the rain started.

  2. Excellent move by A1 GP to get Ferrari engines and chassis’. It’s got me intrigued anyways. I’ll be checking out a few of their races for sure (haven’t watched one yet).

  3. If anyone is having trouble sleeping, I recommend watching this weekend’s NASCAR race. It’s a sure thing to put you to sleep in 10 minutes flat.

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