10 things we learned from the BTCC opener

The jury is still out on the destination of this season's British Touring Car Championship, but we are a lot closer to building a picture of who is hot and who is not in the series this year after the opening three races at Brands Hatch last weekend.

We have picked out 10 lessons we have learned from the first skirmishes of the season and point to some likely storylines to follow over the course of the next 27 races. From new cars and young chargers, there are plenty of things that will make an impact on the year ahead.

The next raft of answers will be delivered at next three races, which take place at Donington Park on April 16/17.

HONDA HAS HIT THE GROUND RUNNING

The reworked factory-backed Honda Civic Type Rs have had a new engine installed but even that couldn't knock Team Dynamics off its stride at Brands Hatch.

Four podiums in the first two rounds - including a one-two in race two - mean Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden stand top of the points.

SUBARU: LOOKING TO THE LONGER TERM

Team BMR's boffins - led by designer Carl Faux - had just 87 days to build up four new Levorg estate cars and the fact that it got them to Brands at all for the opening round is staggering.

The weekend was little more than a public test, but Jason Plato and Colin Turkington scored points. The fact that Turkington qualified 11th - just 0.5s away from pole - is a positive step. There is work to do, but the potential is good.

TOM INGRAM IS THE REAL DEAL

After securing two podiums towards the end of 2015, there was only one more box for Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis driver Tom Ingram to tick. He did that with a faultless victory in the opening round of the season, which he had taken from his career-first pole position.

Although he crashed out of race two, the impression he left after Brands means that others now need to take him seriously.

ANDREW JORDAN V MAT JACKSON: THE GLOVES ARE OFF

Motorbase Performance Ford Focus pairing Andrew Jordan and Mat Jackson were always going to be hard to split in terms of pace, but they were hard to keep apart during race three at Brands.

A clash between the duo at the first corner ultimately led to Jackson's retirement. There was grumpiness in the garage afterwards. This could be about to get interesting...

ASH SUTTON IS A STAR IN THE MAKING

The reigning Renault Clio Cup champion Ash Sutton certainly talks a good game, and he delivered on his debut in the BTCC at the wheel of a Triple Eight Racing MG6.

He qualified fifth and went on to fourth in the opening race, displaying a serious amount of racecraft along the way. Two other top 10 finishes bode well.

ARON SMITH AND THE NEW TEAM BKR ARE A STRONG PAIRING

Former Team BMR racer Aron Smith's diary was looking pretty blank up until about two weeks before the BTCC kicked off. He did a last-minute deal to join rookie outfit Team BKR, run by Nico Ferrari.

He drove Colin Turkington's Volkswagen CC from last season and landed a podium in the second race of the weekend. The car is fitted with the older GPRM-spec parts, and he'll be aiming to reap rewards while others get up to speed with the upgraded RML-built components.

RACE TWO FORMAT CHANGE MEANS MORE OF THE SAME

The decision to set the race two grid by fastest laps from race one, which was used in 2015, was scrapped to return to the traditional system. The idea was that fastest laps would mix up the order a little bit, but some drivers chose to ditch a decent result in race one to concentrate on race two.

It was scrapped and for 2016, drivers begin race two with the finish positions from race one. The results of race two was pretty similar to race one - so maybe the fastest lap plan was worth sticking with.

JAKE HILL IS SET TO SHINE

Team Hard is ambitiously running three cars this season. While newcomers Michael Epps and Chris Smiley are talented and will get to grips with the machines soon, Jake Hill is certainly ready to shine.

He would have been well inside the top 10 in race two at Brands but for a cruel fuel pressure sensor failure and he was ruled out by contact in race three. There is more to come from the Kent racer.

MERCEDES WILL BE STRONG

Adam Morgan was superb in race three. He started on pole position and everyone expected him to lose out to Sam Tordoff's rear-wheel-drive BMW off the line.

However, the Merecdes-Benz A-Class racer held firm, looked after his tyres and fended off all his rivals to the flag. The chassis is strong, there are good engineers behind it and Morgan has the ability to mount a championship challenge.

AUSTIN MAKES FRONT-WHEEL-DRIVE PROGRESS

Although he didn't qualify where he wanted to with a duff set-up, Rob Austin's progress through the field in race two - where he went from 30th on the grid to 14th at the finish - helped him to earn the Dunlop-backed accolade for the driver who improves the most over the course of the weekend.

Given Austin's testing pace, there will be some solid results coming his way in the Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis.