The 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 51st British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. It was also the first that the championship was sponsored by HiQ. Fabrizio Giovanardi won his second consecutive title. It would also, as of 2026, be the final time Vauxhall took the overall drivers title and the last for Triple Eight Racing before its closure in 2017.
Changes for 2008
Teams and drivers After capturing the Drivers and Manufacturers titles in their first season with the Vectra, the Triple 8-run works Vauxhall squad expanded to three cars for 2008. Reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi remained on board, being joined by Matt Neal, returning to Vauxhall for the first time since 2002 after leaving his family-run Team Dynamics squad, with whom he won back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006. The third car was piloted by Tom Onslow-Cole, who impressed at the wheel of a WSR BMW in his debut BTCC campaign in 2007.
SEAT were once again the only other full-works operation, and fitted their Leons with the rapid yet often unreliable turbo diesel engines being used by the marque's World Touring Car Championship operation. Jason Plato, who came extremely close to securing a second BTCC title the previous year, remained on board, as did GT convert Darren Turner.
Tom Chilton, moving the opposite direction after two years with Vauxhall, replaced the outgoing Neal at Team Dynamics (again running as Team Halfords), with Gordon Shedden remaining on board in the other of their self-developed Honda Civics. As with the previous year, in spite of not being a factory-backed operation, the cars were not eligible for Independents points due to their dominance of the category with the Integra in 2005 and 2006.
West Surrey Racing (again running as Team RAC) campaigned the BMW 320is for a second year, with reigning Independents champion Colin Turkington again heading the team and single-seater convert Stephen Jelley replacing the Vauxhall-bound Onslow-Cole. Mat Jackson returned in his 320is after a successful debut season in 2007, with his small family-run operation now enjoying BMW Dealer Team UK backing.
Motorbase Performance also joined the BMW brigade after ditching their SEAT Toledos, with former Independents champion Rob Collard returned to the series full-time with the team after spending most of 2007 away. He was partnered by Steven Kane, who had been a front-runner for the team in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain after making the switch from single-seaters. Also leaving the Toledo behind for 2008 were GR Asia (again running under the Team Air Cool banner), who switched to a newer Leon (which ran with its original petrol engine unlike the works cars) for the returning Adam Jones.
Team Eurotech continued with the ex-Team Dynamics Honda Integra for a third year, expanding to two cars with team boss Mike Jordan now joined by his 18-year-old son Andrew, who had impressed in rallycross before making his road racing debut in the Renault Clio Cup in 2007. John George also campaigned his Integra for a second year with TH Motorsport.
Alan Taylor returned for a full season in his Integra with Robertshaw Racing, having debuted in the closing meetings of 2007. The team also added a pair of ex-WTCC Chevrolet Lacettis to their line-up driven by Matt Allison, switching from Motorbase, and SEAT Cupra Championship graduate Harry Vaulkhard, the first Chevrolets to compete in the series since 1975. Allison left the team due to budgetary reasons after the first three meetings and was not replaced.
Among the other returnees were Kartworld Racing (entered as Team KWR), who continued to run the venerable MG ZS, cutting back to a single example for team boss Jason Hughes, after failing to acquire an ex-Team Dynamics Honda Integra.https://www.touringcartimes.com/2008/03/21/mg-instead-of-honda-for-hughes-at-brands/ Tech-Speed Motorsport, again running under the Arkas Racing banner, expanded to two cars for its second year with the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, Turkey's Erkut Kizilirmak being joined by Martin Bell, who had piloted a Geoff Steel Racing BMW in the previous two years.
BTC Racing began the year running their temperamental Lexus IS200s from the previous two seasons, before switching to a pair of SEAT Toledos acquired from Motorbase from the second round onwards. Team stalwart Chris Stockton remained alongside multiple truck racing champion Stuart Oliver, who was making his first steps into cars. Gareth Howell, who appeared in a Toledo for Motorbase in 2007, was recruited to replace Oliver at meetings that clashed with his truck racing commitments, making two such appearances before Oliver left the championship and the second car was dropped.
The only all-new entry to the championship came in the shape of young Scotsman Michael Doyle, who had been a race winner in the Clio Cup the previous year. He ran a BTCC-spec Honda Civic Type-R, originally built and run by the works Arena operation between 2002 and 2005, with his family-run In-Tune Racing team.
Team 48 Motorsport registered a two-car entry with Darrelle Wilson and Jamaican Matthew Gore as the drivers. The team intended to run the Alfa Romeos run by A-Tech in 2007 but after repeatedly delaying their debut, the team ultimately never raced.
Other changes Dunlop was no longer the title sponsor of the BTCC, being replaced by HiQ. However, both brands shared the same parent company.
Entry list On 12 March 2008 the BTCC Organisers released the official MSA HiQ British Touring Car Championship entry list for the 2008 season.
Team Car No. Drivers Rounds Works Entries VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 1 Fabrizio Giovanardi All 4 Matt Neal All 10 Tom Onslow-Cole All SEAT Sport UK SEAT León TDI 11 Jason Plato All 12 Darren Turner All Constructor Entries Team Halfords Honda Civic 9 Tom Chilton All 52 Gordon Shedden All Independent S2000 Entries Team RAC BMW 320si 5 Colin Turkington All 50 Stephen Jelley All BMW Dealer Team UK BMW 320si 7 Mat Jackson All Robertshaw Racing Chevrolet Lacetti 16 Harry Vaulkhard All 26 Matt Allison 1–3 Team 48 Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 19 Darelle Wilson None 48 Matthew Gore None Team Air Cool SEAT León 21 Adam Jones All Motorbase Performance BMW 320si 24 Steven Kane All 25 Rob Collard All BTC Racing Lexus IS200 42 Stuart Oliver 1–2 43 Chris Stockton 1–2 SEAT Toledo Cupra 3–5, 7–10 42 Stuart Oliver 3, 5 44 Gareth Howell 4, 7 Independent BTC-T Entries Arkas Racing with sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch 15 Martyn Bell All 90 Erkut Kızılırmak 1–6, 9–10 Team KWR MG ZS 28 Jason Hughes All Robertshaw Racing Honda Integra Type-R 32 Alan Taylor All In-Tune Racing Honda Civic Type-R 33 Michael Doyle All TH Motorsport with JAG Racing Honda Integra Type-R 55 John George All John Guest Racing Honda Integra Type-R 77 Mike Jordan All 78 Andrew Jordan All
Team Halfords were neither a works or an independent entry. Team 48 Motorsport were on the official entry list but never raced.https://www.eurosport.com/motorsports/blissett-unveils-team-48_sto1508367/story.shtml
Calendar All races were held in the United Kingdom. The 2008 season once again had ten race weekends with three BTCC rounds at each. A provisional calendar had been announced by series organisers. BTCC announced 2008 calendar
Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team 1 R1 Brands Hatch (Indy) 30 March Mat Jackson Colin Turkington Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing R2 Darren Turner Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing R3 Mat Jackson Colin Turkington Team RAC 2 R4 Rockingham Motor Speedway 13 April Gordon Shedden Tom Onslow-Cole Gordon Shedden Team Halfords R5 Fabrizio Giovanardi Mat Jackson BMW Dealer Team UK R6 Matt Neal Matt Neal VX Racing 3 R7 Donington Park (National) 4 May Tom Onslow-Cole Jason Plato Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK R8 Fabrizio Giovanardi Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing R9 Tom Onslow-Cole Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK 4 R10 Thruxton Circuit 18 May Tom Onslow-Cole Tom Onslow-Cole Tom Onslow-Cole VX Racing R11 Fabrizio Giovanardi Tom Onslow-Cole VX Racing R12 Jason Plato Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK 5 R13 Croft Circuit 1 June Darren Turner Gordon Shedden Colin Turkington Team RAC R14 Steven Kane Colin Turkington Team RAC R15 Fabrizio Giovanardi Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing 6 R16 Snetterton Circuit 13 July Jason Plato Darren Turner Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK R17 Fabrizio Giovanardi Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK R18 Fabrizio Giovanardi Mat Jackson BMW Dealer Team UK 7 R19 Oulton Park (Island) 27 July Jason Plato Jason Plato Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK R20 Colin Turkington Colin Turkington Team RAC R21 Jason Plato Gordon Shedden Team Halfords 8 R22 Knockhill Circuit 17 August Darren Turner Jason Plato Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK R23 Darren Turner Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK R24 Darren Turner Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK 9 R25 Silverstone Circuit (National) 31 August Jason Plato Mat Jackson Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK R26 Fabrizio Giovanardi Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing R27 Jason Plato Mat Jackson BMW Dealer Team UK 10 R28 Brands Hatch (Indy) 21 September Stephen Jelley Steven Kane Mat Jackson BMW Dealer Team UK R29 Mat Jackson Mat Jackson BMW Dealer Team UK R30 Fabrizio Giovanardi Tom Chilton Team HalfordsSource:
Championship standings Points system 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Fastest lap Lead a lap151210865432111 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