The East Midlands venue has secured the series’ ‘floating’ second date, which in 2021 and 2022 has been occupied by Thruxton, and as such will host two rounds of the BTCC for the first time since 2001.
The last time the GP circuit hosted the BTCC was 2002, when the race winners were James Thompson in a Vauxhall Astra Coupe and Alan Morrison in a Honda Civic Type R.
Donington’s GP loop will play host to the series on the August Bank Holiday weekend, four months after the traditional date on the National Circuit, which as in 2022 kicks off the season in late April.
Series chief Alan Gow explained that, where possible, the intention is always to stage events on alternative circuit layouts when a venue doubles up on dates.
This is the tradition with Brands Hatch, which hosts rounds on the GP and Indy circuits, and was the plan in 2020 at Silverstone, before the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the inaugural BTCC date on the venue’s International circuit.
“We had the opportunity to go to Donington twice next year, so rather than use the same layout twice we wanted to use the GP circuit,” Gow told Autosport.
“It’s the same when we go to Brands Hatch Indy and GP.
“We haven’t been there [on the Donington GP circuit] for a long time, but everyone remembers Gabriele Tarquini up on two wheels at the chicane in 1994!
“If we’re going to the same venue twice, it would be a bit silly not to use the GP circuit.
“It adds something different to the calendar, and it’s got a nice balance to it – a nice spread.”
As usual, the BTCC will finish its season on the Brands Hatch GP circuit in early October.
“We’ve never announced a following season schedule as early as May before, which provides great forward planning for our teams, partners, fans and all stakeholders,” added Gow.
BTCC employs hybrid dummy run at Thruxton
The BTCC added a 10-minute free practice session behind the safety car at Thruxton last weekend immediately prior to the normal 40 minutes of FP1.
The measure was taken following problems in FP1 at the previous round at Brands, where the startline timing beacon and centralised hybrid system were not communicating with each other, meaning no competitors could access hybrid.
The BTCC field completed five rolling laps: the first was to simulate an out-lap to the grid; the second a green-flag lap; the third a first race lap with no hybrid deployment; the fourth a subsequent race lap with hybrid; and the fifth into the pits.
The teams then switched the systems from race mode (where hybrid is restricted by laps) to qualifying mode (restricted by seconds), and it proved to work on the dashboard of each car.
BTCC calendar 2023
22-23 April Donington Park National
6-7 May Brands Hatch Indy
20-21 May Snetterton
3-4 June Thruxton
17-18 June Oulton Park
29-30 July Croft
12-13 August Knockhill
26-27 August Donington Park GP
23-24 September Silverstone
7-8 October Brands Hatch GP
