How Subaru turned its BTCC fortunes around

Talk about ambitious. When Team BMR announced back in January that it was going to run Subarus in the British Touring Car Championship this season, there were a lot of raised eyebrows.

Sure, the outfit is the BTCC's equivalent of the brains trust, with a collection of highly experienced and talented men behind the scenes as well as having former champions Jason Plato and Colin Turkington on the driving strength, but it was still a massive leap.

It is a team that has come a long way since it was formed in 2013 as a single-car effort for team owner and former motorcycle racer Warren Scott, running a scruffy and outdated SEAT.

Just a couple of seasons later, the decision to go with Subaru meant it was facing a brand new, ground-up project of the type that only a handful of experienced teams had attempted before. It was joining the ranks of the manufacturer-backed entries.

And, to cap it all, BMR would do it with a new car with a quirky four-cylinder boxer engine, a rear-wheel-drive format and an estate-bodied Subaru Levorg model. BMR had a lot of ground to cover very quickly.

Just 87 days after the programme was given the green light, four cars were ready for the Brands Hatch opener. It was a mammoth effort as Turkington, Plato, James Cole and team boss Scott took to the Kent track.

The initial running was a struggle as new car gremlins were evident. That was merely a consequence of the programme being so new.

The Levorg struggled through Brands and Donington Park, skirting with the fringes of the top 10 and running strongly when the track was damp in free practice sessions, clearly pointing to a strong chassis from the outset.

Plato and the engineers were bubbling about the potential handling benefits of the Levorg. The flat-four engine was set well back in the chassis, which meant that the weight was mainly between the wheels and also, by the very nature of the layout of the cylinders, it carried the majority of its engine block low down. That is an engineer's dream.

Despite those glimpses of what was to come in terms of pace over the opening two meetings, there was a major drama at Donington Park. Cole's Levorg burst into flames at the end of race one after a high-pressure fuel line split. Scott's car was similarly afflicted in the same meeting - although he shut his version off before it became a bonfire - and there was a great deal of concern.

The fuel rail system was redesigned in time for Thruxton at the start of May, but after qualifying, the boffins within the team were worried again: the fix that that had applied was not up to scratch. The squad withdrew from the meeting rather than face another embarrassing conflagration.

While that system went back to the drawing board, it wasn't the only part under scrutiny in the three-week break before the series resumed. There needed to be a change too because, privately, there were some concerns being aired by Subaru. The BTCC was meant to be a level playing field, and the Japanese cars were nowhere near the front of the pack - yet.

Because of the tight timeframe building the Levorg cars, there had been some things that the engineers simply couldn't prepare in time, including an inlet manifold for the two-litre powerplant.

It began the season using a standard version, but that meant the two-litre engine couldn't breathe properly or even use the amount of turbo boost it had been granted under the regulations.

Chucking more boost at the engine simply wouldn't have worked: it was unable to maximise the initial amount it had been permitted to use.

The team went back to the BTCC technical team and was granted dispensation to build a bespoke inlet manifold, provided it agreed to a drop in the overall boost level.

Given that it wasn't using anywhere near its full turbo allowance anyway, the team accepted this - although it required unanimous agreement from the other teams on the grid, and not all of them were without grumbles.

That new inlet manifold came in time for Oulton Park and Northern Irishman Turkington zoomed to pole position and a race one win. He added two further wins at Croft and Snetterton to underline that there is now nothing fundamentally wrong with the package.

The rapid progress of the Levorg has been one of the intriguing aspects of the title battle this season. Effectively, Team BMR's struggle to get on top of the Levorg has taken two major title players out of the early picture.

While Turkington and Plato have learned the secrets of the estate car, the others have made a break at the top of the points. But now the Levorg machines are working, they are climbing the standings fast and denying the pacesetters the big hauls of points that they had been used to earning.

That is one of the things that has kept the points race so close.

During the four-round run-in, there is one track that certainly favours rear-wheel-drive cars (Knockhill), one that will suit the Subaru's dynamics (Silverstone) and two that should be pretty even between the front- and rear-wheel-drive brigade (Rockingham and Brands Hatch).

That will make the showdown interesting and expert points collector Turkington is just 34 points off standings leader, WSR BMW driver Rob Collard.

That means there is a sniff of a late run for the crown for Turkington and that is all that the 2009 and 2014 title winner needs. Plato is 60 points off in 11th spot and while a charge of his own is not impossible, he is unlikely to reap the biggest rewards.

One of the harder aspects for Subaru to overcome to make any dent towards the top two in the points is the layout of the car. Subaru is rear-wheel-drive, but the pair at the head of the table, WSR BMW duo of Collard and Sam Tordoff, have that weapon in their armoury too.

That means any differences offered by the circuits ahead will be negated. The BMW is a more competitive proposition this season with an uprated variable valve timing engine, which has helped it gain pace. That, allied to the knowledge that the crack WSR crew has of the design - now in its fourth season - should mean it has a pretty good chance of clinging on to top spot.

Surbaru's increased pace and improved results also mean it is now in the firing line for success ballast, which ranges from 9kg of extra lead to 75kg. It was a factor that it didn't have to contend with over the opening part of the season. It might hinder its qualifying pace slightly but the Levorg has already shown that is it kind enough on its Dunlop rubber to make the extra weight only an annoyance during the races, rather than a critical handicap.

Plato is racing a rear-wheel-drive BTCC car for the first time since he joined the category almost 500 races ago. Turkington, who won two championships for WSR at the wheel of a rear-wheel-drive BMW, isn't. That is a simple way of pointing to why the results might be different between the two so far this season, but that is very simple.

When Turkington joined Plato in the BMR squad last season, they were both in front-wheel-drive VW CCs and Plato usually had the advantage. Both are quick drivers, but the intricacies of each layout are things that do take time to fully unlock. Turkington was creeping towards Plato at times in terms of pace last term, but Plato could always drag the last bit from the car. That situation has been turned on its head in 2016.

Also Plato, by his nature, is adventurous and is always looking for the magic bullet in terms of set-up. That extra edge and that burning desire to extract the maximum has sometimes led him and his engineer (and the car's designer) Carl Faux down some difficult cul-de-sacs.

Turkington and his engineer Kevin Berry, on the other hand, worked together at WSR and have chipped away at the package underneath them.

If Plato finds the nirvana he is looking for, then he will be a serious threat, but the more prudent approach on the other side of the garage is the one that has reaped rewards so far.

Paddock insiders were expecting fireworks between Plato and Turkington in 2015, when they were first paired at the same team. That didn't really spark in to life as Plato had the upper hand on most occasions, but there was a serious fracture in the relationship this season in race two at Croft in late June.

According to insiders in the team, it came after an agreement between the two about the opening lap. Turkington was on pole and Plato was alongside. The pair had a pact not to contest the opening turn to allow them to scamper clear from the field behind and, if one driver had ceded a position into the first corner, the place would be handed back.

Plato swept around the outside of Turkington in to Clervaux and, as per the agreement, Plato let his team partner back ahead on lap five. Turkington thought that was job done, game over.

Plato thought different, as he had fulfilled his part of the bargain and he figured the duo were now free to race for the lead. That is why Turkington didn't defend as Plato came up the inside into Tower corner on lap eight when they were running first and second. Turkington wasn't expecting to be attacked, while Plato thought they were free to race.

Both finished in second and third after they had tripped over each other and allowed Collard ahead for the victory, but Turkington's sullen face as he was interviewed by ITV after the race said it all. "That wasn't what was agreed," was all he could say.

Despite any rancour, it was a mark of the turn around that the Subaru had made that the pair was fighting for first and second places.

And don't forget, taking Thruxton out of the equation, the car has only contested five meetings. All four drivers and the car will only get quicker with more data in the bank, and they are still refining the nuances of the handling.

Those dark days of Thruxton must seem like a long time ago, and the lure of a title battle for at least one of its drivers is a literal phoenix from the flames story.

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- The Autosport.com Team

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