BTCC Season 2025 – Donington Park gp – pREVIEW
Welcome to our preview of this weekend’s 8th outing in the 2025 British Touring Car Championship. Donington Park in Leicestershire, in the Grand Prix layout is one of the longer laps at 2.487 miles (4.003 km) as it includes Melbourne Hairpin and Goddards.
Key features for the drivers and engineers of the longer Donington Park Grand Prix circuit are:
• Craner Curves: Fast, flowing downhill left-right sequence—hugely rewarding but punishing if misjudged. A true test of chassis balance and driver commitment.
• Old Hairpin: Not a hairpin in the traditional sense—more of a medium-speed right-hander. Critical for maintaining momentum into Starkey’s Straight.
• McLeans & Coppice: Technical uphill corners requiring precision and traction. Hybrid boost deployment here can be decisive.
• The Esses: A sharp chicane that sets up overtaking into the Melbourne Hairpin. Expect drama here, especially in Race 3.
• Melbourne Hairpin: Heavy braking zone—prime overtaking spot. Drivers often dive late here, risking contact.
• Goddards: Final corner leading onto the pit straight. Wide entry allows for varied lines and last-lap lunges.
Following our great points haul last time out at Knockhill we are looking to build on that at Donington, although this is a very different circuit. Aiden will be hoping for another performance like earlier in the year at Donington where he made up a magnificent 11 places in Race 1 and then had two top ten finishes. Charles also had a great first runout in the car, although was robbed of a great result with a puncture in Race 2.
We go into the weekend 3rd in the Teams Championship with 9 races left at Donington, Silverstone and Brands Hatch. We are looking for more silverware this week and for both Aiden and Charles to rise in the Drivers’ standings. In the Jack Sear’s trophy, for those drivers without a BTCC Podium at the start of the season, Charles is currently second only 1 point behind Daryl Deleon.
We’ll bring you all of the action as usual, session by session over the weekend and you can catch Qualifying and all 3 of the races via the ITV and BTCC websites.