BTCC 2025: The Media Day Test

By Steve Hindle•April 20, 2025•In Touring Cars•1 Minute

This time next week, we’ll know which drivers and teams have set the standards for the 2025 British Touring Car Championship.

Until then, here are our favourite images of each of the drivers who participated in last week’s Media Day test at Donington Park.

*Michael Crees & Senna Proctor didn’t drive. 

All images by Steve Hindle

2024 champion Jake Hill brings a stunning new livery to his title defence. Now the undisputed leader of the WSR squad, Hill proved his command and form last year and has since enhanced his reputation even further. Brimming with confidence and with the might of his engineering team behind him, he has the hard-fought lessons of winning a title fight as well to add to his repertoire. Expect nothing short of robust determination as he aims to make it two in a row.
You should never bet against Ash Sutton. The four-time champion looks to own every inch of track and willingly exploits opportunities wherever presented. This year's Focus looks sharper and more agile than before and will be a formidable challenger.
Tom Ingram also brings a brilliant new livery to the grid to reflect the change of sponsor's name to Team Vertu. He and Hill were incredibly well matched last year, each exploiting their relative strengths. Ultimately, the difference was two retirements for Ingram versus one for the champion. He'll need to earn his stripes against Sutton, Cammish and Cook if he's to make this season count and this will start at the weekend when the championship returns to Donington Park.
Josh Cook is back with One Motorsport, who are back after a year's absence. Cook isn't interested in winning the Independents' Championship as only the main title will satisfy his ambitions, but despite some obvious aero improvements, the true race pace of the car in this new post-hybrid era has yet to be tested.
Talking of returns, Gordon Shedden is back after a two-year absence, switching allegiances from Honda to Toyota. The last time he raced at Donington (2022), he scored a podium and a win, but he's now partnered with an unfamiliar car and an unfamiliar team. Rob Huff struggled with both last year, and whilst lessons have been learned, results might still take time to filter through.
Thanks to Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish habitually flies under the BTCC contenders' radar, which he absolutely shouldn't, because he remains one of the most talented national racers in the country. Teamed with Sutton certainly can't be easy, but Cammish is a three-time Carrera Cup champion and knows how to race close and hard: It's time to deliver.
Dan Lloyd is another ex-Porsche racer and proven BTCC race-winner. After a difficult few seasons, he's joined former teammate Chris Smiley at Restart Racing, and is back in a Hyundai which took him to three wins in 2022, his most successful (and expensive) season to date. The team arrive as underdogs but Lloyd is well-versed at conjuring pace from unlikely situations. Expect him to fight hard for Independent honours.
Though still only 17 last year, Max Hall very quickly established himself as a worthy challenger to Dan Zelos in Mini Challenge. Now he's joined the Un-Limited squad and is ready to continue the adventure started last year by Daryl De Leon. Hall is fast, feisty and fun. Expect headlines!
We've yet to see the reveal of De Leon's livery, but we're more eager to see how he manages the pace and position his West Surrey Racing BMW should bring. Three top ten finishes last year was well beyond the expectations for the Cupra. Now he's in a championship-winning car and back to his favoured rear wheel drive. The possibilities are limitless but he's going to have to learn to race at the front first.
Reigning Jack Sears Trophy champion, Mikey Doble, finds himself as a single-car entry in 2025. Seldom out of the points last year (including five top-six finishes), what he loses by not benefitting from a teammate's data can be gained by being the sole focus of the Power Maxed squad's attention. He came within seconds of earning his maiden win at Oulton Park in 2024; if the BTCC is to be a long-term home without the need to buy into a team, he'll need to show that he's capable of going one better.
It's 23 years since a punk-haired Tom Chilton first appeared in the BTCC. Remarkably, in his 18 seasons of competition, he's only notched up 16 wins. We know that he's better than this, nevertheless, a win and two podiums last year is a long way short of teammate Tom Ingram's tally from 2024. We're not expecting much to change, but we'll cheer if it does.
Serial reverse-grid pole-sitter Stephen Jelley returns to the BTCC after a year in Porsche Carrera Cup. Joining Josh Cook at One Motorsport, Jelley will once again be forced to learn the intricacies of front wheel drive. In Cook's hands, the Type R is a potent force, but it needs taming and Jelley is going to need time to adapt.
Ronan Pearson endured a dramatic 2024: A P5 at Donington in Round 1 was followed by his maiden win at Brands Hatch a fortnight later, but then it all went downhill soon after, causing an early departure from the EXCELR8 squad. Now he's found a new home with Speedworks and he's ready to put his career back on track. The Corolla has never been the easiest car to set-up but the weight loss from the removal of the hybrid system should help immensely. Pearson looks primed and punchy, let's hope that he can transfer this into points and podiums.
It's great to have Nic Hamilton back in the BTCC. The effort that he makes before, during and after each weekend of racing is both punishing and immense. We know that he's not going to win but we also know that he absolutely deserves his place here. His disability means that he simply can't summon the muscle response to extract the best from his car, however, his lines in testing appeared even more determined and focused than ever. He seems far more suited to the Leon than any other car he's raced so here's hoping that he's rewarded with the results that he so clearly deserves.
Even a watchful eye from Ash Sutton can't seem to propel Dan Rowbottom towards championship glory. Despite collecting just two podium finishes last year, all of his best results were in earned in the early stages of the weekend (rather than coming from the end-of-the-day reverse-grid race). So he still has plenty of raw pace, but sadly he's also wildly inconsistent. As with the other Dan (Cammish), we know it can't be easy being Sutton's teammate, but equally, the same can be said of his time when he was paired with Gordon Shedden at Team Dynamics, yet he still found the resource to win almost half of the intra-team battles with the Scot. We hope we'll see a change this year, but we're not going to hold our breath.
Now with his fourth car/team in four years, Moffat finally has the chance to deliver the consistency that should see him earn his place in the top ten of the standings. Three and a half seasons with the Infiniti make him no stranger to rear-wheel-drive, and with three incredibly fast young teammates (including reigning champion Jake Hill), together with coaching from outgoing team leader Colin Turkington, there should be no excuses for poor points finishes.
Joining Moffat at WSR (with LKQ backing) is former Porsche Carrera Cup and historic racer Charles Rainford. A winner at every level of competition in his young career, and with a strong engineering background, Rainford can be expected to quickly learn the intricacies of the BTCC as he aims for Jack Sears Trophy honours. Beyond this, anything is possible.
Árón Taylor-Smith arrives in 2025 on the back of an outstanding wave of form that saw him score points in every race last year, including returning twenty top ten finishes. As reigning Independent Drivers' Champion, he rightly feels that he's earned his chance of a top drive, but competition in the manufacturers' category is fierce this year (with 16 cars entered), so he's now going to have to do it all again, simply to be noticed.
Chris Smiley never looked at ease last year, despite his top six finish at Silverstone. Now, back behind the wheel of the i30N, and with Dan Lloyd for company, he should once again be able to prove his pace, especially in the hunt for Independent Teams' honours.
Sam Osborne knows why he's at NAPA, but he's equally sure to make the most of it. Something suddenly seemed to click at the back end of last year for him, returning eight top ten finishes from the last nine rounds. He now needs to build on this and was pushing hard at the test to exploit his new found pace. He's already discovered the benefits of racing in the upper half of the grid, now he needs to make sure that he stays there. Oh, and Sam, please do something about the livery on your and Rowbo's car, it's shocking.
James Dorlin might be a newcomer to the BTCC but he's no stranger to the cut and thrust of TOCA, having proven himself in Clio Cup in 2018 (beating the likes of Dan Rowbottom, Sam Osborne, Jade Edwards and Nic Hamilton), before carving an impressive career in Porsche racing and GTs. Now he's joined the Class of '25 where he'll immediately feel right at home; elbows out, pedal to the metal, in it to win it... What we're trying to say is that he's very quick, very racy, and once he settles into the routine at the team, providing the car delivers, he'll deliver too.
We didn't save Dexter Patterson for last because that's where we think he'll finish; simply, there's very little to say about him. He was outstanding as a karter but has since failed to impress in cars. In his two seasons in the BTCC, he's managed one good race (Knockhill 2023). This sounds harsh but the BTCC is the UK's most prominent championship and it deserves drivers who not only give their all on the track but off it too.
british touring car championship btcc donington park Jake Hill

Written By

Steve Hindle
Steve Hindle

Steve has lived his life with motor sport; from childhood years as a fan, to racing around the greatest tracks in Europe, first as a driver and later as a team principal. Today he's a familiar sight trackside and in the pit lane, notebook in one hand, camera in another, capturing moments and contributing to some of the leading titles in motor sport and automotive media.

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