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All the BTCC news ahead of the Big Brands Decider this weekend!

By MJP Media | 8 October 2015

Ahead of the big showdown at Brands Hatch where the 2015 BTCC titles will be decided there is an enormous amount of news for not only this weekend, but for next season as well and here it is in brief.

Title sponsor Dunlop has a big presence in the BTCC paddock

Firstly, it has been formally announced that Alain Menu will replace Warren Scott in the Team BMR RCIB Insurance Volkswagen CC. Menu, who remained with the team as a driver mentor this year, is race prepped and ready to go with a huge amount of experience in both World and British touring cars. He could be a real fly in the ointment to several of the championship contenders, but we would suggest he might not hinder team-mates and title contenders Jason Plato and Colin Turkington too much!

At the opposite end of the experience scale we will have Jake Hill at Brands Hatch in the AMD Tuning.com Audi S3 previously piloted by Nic Hamilton. Making only his third BTCC appearance, BRDC Rising Star Hill will step into the car this weekend for what will be his first outing in the BTCC since the 2013 season finale where he secured a hat-trick of points finishes at the Brands Hatch circuit. Hill has been part of AMD's British GT team this year. Hamilton is sitting out this weekend as he finalises plans to do the full 2016 season with Shaun Hollamby's AMD team.

Jake Hill last appeared in the BTCC in 2013 for Rob Austin Racing

In an unexpected consequence of the 2015 rules, the word 'choice' doesn't really come into play this weekend when discussing the race in which the drivers will run the Dunlop SportMaxx soft tyre as the decision is already known by a process of elimination. A new rule introduced for 2015 means each car must use the Dunlop SportMaxx soft tyre three times in race one, three times in race two and three times in race three during the course of the season with the exception of the Thruxton rounds. This means that teams who have contested the full season are completely out of choices coming into Brands Hatch and the drivers already know what they and their competitors will be using in each race.

Finally, Midlands-based Eurotech Racing has confirmed it will upgrade to the new Honda Civic Type R for the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. Team Principal and driver Jeff Smith has announced the team also intends to run a third Honda Civic Type R next season with all three cars running the latest NGTC specification chassis parts from RML. The first car is already underway and will be out of production in the next few weeks with the other two cars arriving before Christmas.

Jeff Smith in his 2015 Eurotech Racing Honda Civic

We wish all the title contenders well this weekend and will bring you all the action and pictures as soon as it happens, starting with Free Practice on Saturday.

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media