Just over a week ago, the Diagonal Comms team was busy at not one but two iconic British circuits as the British Touring Car Championship and GB3 Championship got underway at Donington Park and Silverstone Circuit, respectively. With the sun shining overhead, the UK’s premier tin-top championship and single-seater series roared into life with six frenetic races between them and lots of work for our team to dive into.
The BTCC saw the debut of 100% sustainable fuel across its grid, representing yet another groundbreaking technical development in its long history of road-relevant innovation. With hybrid power no longer in use, the series’ 24 drivers enjoyed a weight reduction of 55 kilograms in the cars beneath them, something that helped Ash Sutton smash the race lap record at Donington Park by over a second in his NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST. The TOCA Turbo Boost system also made its first competitive appearance, allowing the BTCC to retain the strategic advantage that was posed by the hybrid system of old.
A little over 60 miles away from the Derbyshire venue, the new Tatuus MSV GB3-025 car made its debut in GB3 at Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix. The F1-inspired chassis stunned as it hit the track for the first time in anger, sporting a striking aerodynamic package that provides 35 per cent more downforce than its predecessor. Qualifying and race lap records were beaten in a flash, and the weekend was dominated by one driver in particular: Freddie Slater.
The 16-year-old Briton claimed pole position by over 0.5 seconds in Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2, and went on to dominate the first two races of the weekend, proving why he remains one to watch across the junior single-seater world this year. Slater will have a target on his back when the GB3 circus travels to Circuit Zandvoort next week. Promising debuts put Noah Lisle and Gianmarco Pradel in close proximity of the championship lead, while second-year driver Nikita Johnson also emerged as an early title challenger. The American’s Hitech TGR team-mate Deagen Fairclough, who was propelled into single-seaters by winning the groundbreaking ROKiT Racing Star sim racing competition in 2022, is another one to watch in the Netherlands on May 17-18, when he will look to bounce back from a tough round one where he was hampered by technical issues.
Back at Donington Park, our BTCC media team was out in full force delivering a comprehensive PR, comms, and content creation package. On Friday, before racing began, our team filmed interviews with Alan Gow, CEO of the BTCC, and Adrian Stuart, Head of Performance Fuel Sales UK at series fuel suppliers Haltermann Carless, to mark the start of the sustainable fuel era and consolidate the series’ key environmental messaging. Gow and Stuart talked in depth about the importance of taking steps towards a greener future in motorsport, the new fuel’s importance to the BTCC, and what went into its development. You can watch the full discussion on the BTCC YouTube channel now.
Team VERTU driver Tom Ingram looked to be on the front foot as on-track action commenced on Saturday, as he took first place in both practice sessions. However, it was Dan Cammish who grabbed the opening pole of 2025, as he overhauled his four-time champion teammate Sutton by 0.011 seconds and Ingram by only 0.031 seconds. Reigning champion Jake Hill, meanwhile, did not make it into the Quick Six. Qualifying left it difficult to predict who would come out on top on Sunday but one thing was crystal clear: the BTCC is just as competitive as ever
Our team was flat-out producing content which spanned a variety of mediums throughout the day. High-quality short-form video content filmed on and off the track was drawn up and published to deepen fan connections with the BTCC and its personalities, while eye-catching graphics produced by our design team were rolled out to draw attention to major moments such as Cammish’s pole. Interview content and explainer videos gave an insightful, analytical, and personal side to the BTCC’s output, ensuring the championship appealed to fans no matter their experience.
Our dedicated press officers worked hard to keep fans, sponsors, and media up to speed with the action via the BTCC website and information-driven social media channels such as Twitter/X. Session reports, articles containing exclusive interviews, and live social media commentary were crucial parts of our comms/PR operation as the opening race weekend of the season got underway.
Sunday marked another major milestone for the BTCC, as all eight hours of the race day broadcast, including all support series on the ‘TOCA Tour’ package, were streamed live globally for free via the BTCC YouTube channel. This latest development ensures that every competitive session of the BTCC is easily accessible to the series’ growing fanbase, significantly widening its appeal and enhancing its potential for growth.
Fans tuned in to watch Sutton open his 2025 campaign with victory. The 31-year-old from Hertfordshire waltzed into first place on the opening lap of the race with a perfectly executed switchback manoeuvre on Cammish, allowing him to blast through the Craner Curves at the head of the field. Ingram followed Sutton home, while a frenetic race behind saw Dan Rowbottom round out the podium places with Hill and Tom Chilton in hot pursuit.
Sutton made it two-for-two in the second race of the day, narrowly fending off a feisty Ingram. Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley took the honours in the Independents classification, while rookie Dexter Patterson had an impressive race, snatching ninth and a solid haul of points for ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport, outlining the impressive depth of the BTCC’s grid. The weekend concluded with a victory for Chilton, the Team VERTU man leading lights-to-flag having started from reverse-grid pole.
An action-packed day of running kept our team busy, as we raced to produce a variety of creative, engaging, and informative content for the BTCC’s channels. Fifteen shorts, tens of social media posts, six press releases, and one YouTube video in just three days marked a successful commencement to the campaign.
On the track, the BTCC started as it meant to go on, providing three breathless races with results contrary to pre-season expectations. Sutton leads the standings, having taken two wins and a third-place at Donington Park, while his NAPA Racing UK squad and Team VERTU sit level on points in the Teams’ standings, having been the class of the field across the weekend – but there’s no time to rest. The BTCC is back in action this weekend at Brands Hatch Indy, where our team will be on the ground once again.