Preview: Vauxhall favourites for new-look series

The new rules, aimed at cutting the spiraling costs that have scared off many of the championship's manufacturers, mean that the many of the teams involved have faced a race against time to get ready for the opening round. The field has been split into two distinct classes, BTC Touring and BTC Production, the latter catering for standard-based cars that ran as Class B last season.

The team with the smoothest pre-season preparation has been the works Vauxhall outfit, whose drivers Yvan Muller from France and England's Jason Plato have racked up a huge amount of testing mileage in its new Astra Coupes over the winter. Vauxhall has not won the series since John Cleland triumphed in 1995.

"It's going to be an interesting year," said Muller. "My aim is to do the best job possible and win as many races as I can."

Plato added: "I'm determined this is going to be my year. I've worked hard for this, gaining experience over the years and fine-tuning my racecraft. The fans are going to see a more complete driver now - a driver capable of taking the championship title."

The works cars will face not only the challenge of the works Peugeot attack, but a Triple Eight satellite team of Astras too, run under the Team Egg Sport banner, for Honda refugee James Thompson and Phil Bennett.

"The cars this year are a lot better than I expected," said Thompson, who was a vehement critic when they were announced. "It doesn't have as much power or grip [compared to a Super Tourer] and it moves around a bit, but it's exciting to drive and looks stunning. As the braking distances are longer, it's really going to open up the racing. The rules have achieved everything that they set out to do."

Peugeot has a potent driver line up for 2001, with Independents' Cup champion Matt Neal finally joining the works ranks alongside BTCC returnee Steve Soper and young gun Dan Eaves. They will all drive 406 Coupes and be joined later in the year by former World Superbike star Aaron Slight.

"I am excited about the car, it feels good after our initial test, it looks good and I am looking forward to the start of the season," said Neal. "I feel the championship with bring closer racing this season which is exactly what the public want."

Alfa Romeo and Lexus will join Vauxhall and Peugeot on the BTC Touring grid. JS Motorsports will field 1992 BTCC champ Tim Harvey, who joins former Vauxhall Vectra SRi Challenge winner David Pinkney in a pair of Alfa 147s.

A single Lexus IS200, run by ABG Motorsport, should be on the grid at Brands in the hands of Kurt Luby. The 'Bolton Bomber' will be joined later in the season by Brazilian hotshoe Thomas Erdos.

Also waiting in the wing is the MG marque, which plans to enter a pair of cars in the last three rounds of the championship for 2000 runner-up Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes.

In the first half of the season at least, the BTC Production class could produce the better spectacle. Barwell Motorsport's James Kaye is the pre-season favourite in his Honda Accord, but last year's Class B runner-up faces tough opposition, not least from fellow Honda runners Peter Cate and Jim Edwards Jnr, the reigning Renault Clio champion.

Last year's title-winning car, the Peugeot 306GTi, is represented by Simon Harrison and Roger Moen in the HTML squad. Ford's Focus is well represented by Fiesta series runner-up Gareth Howell, Clio ace Mat Jackson and former F3000 racer Phil Andrews, who all drive for the GR Motorsport squad.

Intriguing entries come from Cranfield Automotive Management, which fields a Mitsubishi Carisma for National Saloon champion Toni Ruokonen, while Rob Collard will drive a West Surrey Racing-built Renault Clio. His old team, Bintcliffe Sport, will run former TVR star Matt Kelly in a Nissan Primera.

Gavin Pyper and last year's Independents' Cup runner up Colin Blair can't be ruled out either in GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156s.

The race format for 2001 has also changed, with separate Sprint races for the Touring and Production classes, and an amalgamated Feature event that includes pit stops for the top class cars.