Why the BTCC social media trolls are wrong

The entry list for this season's British Touring Car Championship makes for interesting reading. New cars, new drivers and new teams mean that the outlook for 2019 is quite hard to predict, even if the bookmakers are going for the regular frontrunners to claim the ultimate prize.

Among the big headlines for the year ahead, the debut of Mark Blundell in the series and the return of Jason Plato to Vauxhall have caught the imagination. Rob Collard will join Plato in the Power Maxed team, while Matt Neal will also stay on with the Dynamics Honda outfit for his ninth season as a factory-backed driver.

Those four men have a combined age of 205, which has prompted something of an outcry on social media from fans bemoaning the older drivers "taking the seats of younger drivers".

The reality is that none of those drivers have "taken" the seats from younger drivers. The BTCC is a business, and only a handful of drivers get paid to perform. The rest have to put together budgets to fund their campaigns.

Mostly, the outcry has centred around the highly popular Jack Goff, a two-time winner on his way to eighth in the points last year in his Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R.

Goff has ultimately secured a last-minute BTCC lifeline for this year with Team Hard after Mike Bushell, who had been announced to drive one of the squad's VW CCs, was let down by a backer.

Plato has responded with humour, suggesting potential sponsorship deals with a comfy armchair manufacturer

Even when Goff initially announced in late February that he had been unable to raise the budget to return in 2019 and was putting his touring car plans on ice, he pointed out that there was no feeling of injustice.

"I have also noticed some negative comments about some other drivers who have secured slots on the 2019 BTCC grid, which are unfair," he said at the time.

"No one has 'taken a drive' from me and all the competitors who are there deserve to be there. I was just unable to put things together and good luck to those who have."

Ironically, Goff is a year younger than Bushell, so maybe those bemoaning the age of those on the grid have been slightly placated.

While Goff had been pragmatic, the reaction to Blundell and Plato particularly has been quite vitriolic. Plato has responded with humour, suggesting potential sponsorship deals with a comfy armchair manufacturer and a life assurance company (among other things).

2019 BTCC field by age

Blundell has been exposed to it as well. He announced in February that he would contest the BTCC for the first time in 2019. He will drive a Trade Price Cars Racing Audi S3.

"That is the world we live in with social media, and you are open to a certain amount of abuse - although I have to point out that it has been the minority of people," says the three-time Formula 1 podium finisher.

"Overall I've been pleasantly surprised with the level of support I've received."

It's a lack of understanding from those who post on social media that's the most frustrating thing to deal with. All the drivers have worked exceptionally hard to bring together backers and sponsors, tie up a deal with a team and get themselves on the grid.

It goes without saying that no driver has a God-given right to be on the grid, and no BTCC team is in a position to select a driver on talent alone. It simply doesn't operate that way, no matter what the social media trolls say.

Some public opinion also went against Nic Hamilton. The 26-year-old will line up with Motorbase Performance in a Ford Focus RS, but his deal to rejoin the grid was attacked by some who claimed it was a waste of a seat.

"I did read some of the comments and I actually thought, 'These people hate me'" Nic Hamilton

Hamilton says: "There were lots of people who wanted Goff in the car I was driving, but he was just not able to get the backing together - that is the way it goes in motor racing sometimes. People didn't seem to understand that.

"I did read some of the comments and I actually thought, 'These people hate me'. But you learn to work through that. One of the great things about the BTCC is its fanbase - without them, we wouldn't have the interest from backers that enables us to go racing in the first place.

"But they do need to have a bit more understanding. Hardly anyone on the BTCC grid is chosen purely on talent. It has to be backed up with cash as well. Because of my surname, people think my brother Lewis hands over millions to me every year. He doesn't. It has been a six-year struggle to get on the grid.

"I have never had lots of backing, which means I've done most of my testing during race weekends and in the public eye - and that means there have been a fair few crashes and things. It's all been done in front of everyone and that means people think I'm not up to the job, but I am. It has been difficult."

The negative stories on social media will fade into the background when the season blasts off at Brands Hatch on 6-7 April. And that can't come soon enough to return everyone's attention to what actually happens on the racetrack, rather than the pointless back-biting.