2002 BTCC season
Previous: 2001	Next: 2003

The 2002 Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 45th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.

Changes for 2002

Teams and drivers

In its second year under new rules, the entry of the touring class swelled with 5 marques represented on the 2002 grid. Reigning champions Vauxhall again entered four Triple 8-run Vauxhall Astra Coupes, with 2001 champion Jason Plato not returning, 2001 runner-up Yvan Muller was partnered by James Thompson in the Vauxhall Motorsport entries while Thompson's place in the Egg Sport entry was taken by Matt Neal, fresh from a season in the European Touring Car Championship, alongside Production class graduate Paul O'Neill. They would be challenged by MG, who had entered their West Surrey Racing-prepared ZS on trial in the closing stages of 2001 and again had experienced touring car hand Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes at the wheel. After, a year off preparing a car built to the new rules, Honda returned with a pair of Arena Motorsport-prepared Honda Civic Type Rs for Guernseyman Andy Priaulx, who crossed over from Formula 3 after impressing on a one off BTCC outing for Vauxhall in 2001, with Irishman Alan Morrison, the 2000 Production (then Class B) champion, alongside him. Proton completed the works team contingent, entering the BTCC for the first time with a pair of Impians for returning Scottish veteran David Leslie and Phil Bennett, who had been dropped by Vauxhall. With Peugeot withdrawing their factory backing, Vic Lee Racing now headed the independents field with their pair of 406 Coupes, Dan Eaves remained and was joined by 1992 champion Tim Harvey, who had endured a difficult 2001 with the struggling JSM Alfa Romeo. The pair were joined later in the year by Formula Renault driver Carl Breeze. The works MG squad was supported from second meeting onwards by a WSR prepared squad carrying the name of the girl band Atomic Kitten as part of a sponsorship deal, this ran the young pairing of Colin Turkington and Production graduate Gareth Howell. Barwell Motorsport stepped up from the Production class to complete the Touring grid with a pair of ex-works Vauxhall Astra Coupes driven by New Zealand superbike racer Aaron Slight, who switched to car racing after a successful guest appearance for Peugeot in 2001, and 17 year-old rookie Tom Chilton.

In the Production class Synchro Motorsport gained the upper hand by stepping up from the Honda Accord to the brand new Civic Type R, recruiting former Honda factory driver James Kaye from Barwell alongside the returning Dave Allan. The Accords were still campaigned by new squad Beacon Motorsport with Lotus Elise championship graduates Mark Thomas and Spencer Marsh, and John Batchelor's team swapped from Integras to a pair of Accords for Jim Edwards Jnr and Batchelor (again under the name of John B-and-Q), who was injured in a crash during the second meeting at Oulton Park and replaced by Peter Cate and later Hyla Breese. Tech-Speed Motorsport continued their Peugeot 306 campaign, with Lotus Elise champion Mark Fullalove replacing Vauxhall-bound Paul O'Neill alongside Annie Templeton, as did GA Motorsport with their Alfa Romeo 156s, this time campaigned by series newcomers Graham Saunders and Alan Blencowe, accompanied by 2001 driver Gavin Pyper at circuits with enough grid space to accommodate a third car, Rob Collard also returned in his self-run Clio but did not contest a full programme. The big new arrival to the class was Edenbridge Racing's pair of BMW 320is, driven by teenager Tom Boardman in his second year in the class, and experienced German production saloon racer Norman Simon. TH Motorsport also appeared at select rounds with a Mitsubishi Carisma for Steve Wood.

Other changes

• Number of race weekends reduced from 13 to 10

Teams and Drivers

M = Manufacturer Team
I = Independent Team
P = Production Class Team

Touring Class
No.	Driver	Cl.	Team	Car	Notes
0	Matt Neal	M	egg:sport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé
2	Yvan Muller	M	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé
3	James Thompson	M	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé
5	Dan Eaves	I	Team Halfords	Peugeot 406 Coupé
8	Tim Harvey	I	Team Halfords	Peugeot 406 Coupé
11	Anthony Reid	M	MG Sport & Racing	MG ZS
12	Warren Hughes	M	MG Sport & Racing	MG ZS
15	David Leslie	M	Petronas Syntium Proton	Proton Impian
17	Tom Chilton	I	Barwell Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé
20	Phil Bennett	M	Petronas Syntium Proton	Proton Impian
21	Gareth Howell	I	Team Atomic Kitten	MG ZS	Rounds 3-20
22	Colin Turkington	I	Team Atomic Kitten	MG ZS	Rounds 3-20
23	Carl Breeze	I	Team Halfords	Peugeot 406 Coupé	Rounds 7-20
27	Alan Morrison	M	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R
28	Andy Priaulx	M	Honda Racing	Honda Civic Type-R
29	Paul O'Neill	M	egg:sport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé
111	Aaron Slight	I	Barwell Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé
Production Class
51	Rob Collard	P	Collard Racing	Renault Clio	Rounds 1-2, 5-8, 11-12
52	James Kaye	P	Synchro Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R
53	Dave Allan	P	Synchro Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	Rounds 5-20
55	Graham Saunders	P	Gary Ayles Motorsport Ltd	Alfa Romeo 156	Rounds 1-2, 5-20
56	Alan Blencowe	P	Gary Ayles Motorsport Ltd	Alfa Romeo 156
57	Gavin Pyper	P	Gary Ayles Motorsport Ltd	Alfa Romeo 156	Rounds 3-6, 9-20
58	Kelvin Burt	P	Gary Ayles Motorsport Ltd	Alfa Romeo 156	Rounds 7-8. Not eligible for points
59	Annie Templeton	P	Tech-Speed Motorsport Racing with Freightmaster	Peugeot 306
60	Mark Fullalove	P	Tech-Speed Motorsport	Peugeot 306
62	Spencer Marsh	P	Beacon Motorsport	Honda Accord
63	Mark Thomas	P	Beacon Motorsport with Anadin Ultra	Honda Accord
77	Tom Boardman	P	Edenbridge Racing	BMW 320i	Rounds 1-2, 5-20
78	Norman Simon	P	Edenbridge Racing	BMW 320i
79	Hyla Breese	P	Team B&Q Jet York City	Honda Accord	Rounds 11-20
81	Steve Wood	P	TH Motorsport	Mitsubishi Carisma	Rounds 3-8, 19-20
88	John Batchelor	P	Team B&Q Jet York City	Honda Accord	Rounds 1-4
89	Peter Cate	P	Team B&Q Jet York City	Honda Accord	Rounds 5-10
99	Jim Edwards Jr	P	Team B&Q Jet York City	Honda Accord

Championship results

Driver's championship-Touring Position Driver Points 1 James Thompson 183 2 Yvan Muller 163 3 Matt Neal 145 4 Anthony Reid 136 5 Andy Priaulx 116 6 Warren Hughes 110 7 David Leslie 79 8 Paul O'Neill 77 9 Alan Morrison 68 10 Tim Harvey 43 11 Dan Eaves 43 12 Aaron Slight 32 13 Gareth Howell 32 14 Colin Turkington 29 15 Tom Chilton 14 16 Phil Bennett 9 17 Carl Breeze 8	Independent's championship Position Driver Points 1 Dan Eaves 145 2 Aaron Slight 142 3 Tim Harvey 126 4 Gareth Howell 126 5 Tom Chilton 113 6 Colin Turkington 108 7 Carl Breeze 72	Driver's championship-Production Position Driver Points 1 James Kaye 210 2 Norman Simon 180 3 Spencer Marsh 122 4 Gavin Pyper 107 5 Jim Edwards Jr 101 6 Tom Boardman 98 7 Alan Blencowe 76 8 Mark Fullalove 69 9 Dave Allan 61 10 Mark Thomas 61 11 Graham Saunders 60 12 Rob Collard 34 13 Annie Templeton 26 14 Peter Cate 23 15 Steven Wood 12 16 John Batchelor 0 17 Kelvin Burt 0 18 Hyla Breese -16
Manufacturer's championship Position Make Points 1 Vauxhall 471 2 MG 320 3 Honda 212 4 Proton 145	Team's championship-Touring Position Team Points 1 Vauxhall Motorsport 161 2 MG Sport & Racing 107 3 Egg Sport 87 4 Honda Racing 78 5 Team Halfords 47 6 Team Atomic Kitten 34 7 Team Petronas 14 8 Barwell Motorsport 12	Team's championship-Production Position Team Points 1 Synchro Motorsport 127 2 Edenbridge Racing 115 3 Beacon Motorsport 103 4 GA Motorsports 86 5 Team B & Q 59 6 Tech-Speed Motorsport 43 7 Collard Racing 10 8 TH Motorsport 8   This motorsport-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e British Touring Car Championship 1958 • 1959 • 1960 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010