The BTCC Masters was a one off race organised between TOCA

TOCA

ToCA are the organisers and administrators of the BTCC and the supporting series of the BTCC. The BTCC is the UK's biggest motor racing championship and one of the world's most highly respected motor racing series ....

 director Alan J. Gow

Alan J. Gow

Alan James Gow is currently the Series Director and Administrator of the British Touring Car Championship , Chairman of MSA and President of the FIA Touring Car Commission...

 and SEAT

SEAT

SEAT, S.A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer founded on May 9, 1950 by the Instituto Nacional de Industria , a state-owned industrial holding company....

. The race took place at Donington Park

Donington Park

Donington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship...

 on September 26, 2004 at the end of the final race of the 2004 British Touring Car Championship season

2004 British Touring Car Championship season

The 2004 Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 47th British Touring Car Championship season.-Teams and drivers:...

.

Race Concept

The idea of the race was to find the "BTCC Master"" from sixteen past and present drivers from the British Touring Car Championship. The total number of drivers was sixteen, the line up including eight former champions was the largest number of BTCC title winners to take place in one race. The rest of the grid was made up of race winners and former stars from the past twelve years. Only two drivers were unable to race, Yvan Muller

Yvan Muller

Yvan Muller is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a two-time and the reigning World Touring Car Champion.-Single-seaters:...

 and James Thompson

James Thompson (racing driver)

James Thompson is a British auto racing driver and commentator for Eurosport's motorsport coverage. He has twice been champion of the British Touring Car Championship , and was third in the 2007 World Touring Car Championship.-Racing career:He started racing in the BTCC in a privately-entered...

 due to their contracts with Vauxhall

Vauxhall

-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...

. Car numbers related to the year they won the BTCC championship, for example John Cleland in car number 95 because he won in 1995. With non championship winning drivers given single numbers. The drivers would all take two timed free practice sessions in the cars but the starting grid would be drawn randomly from a hat.

The cars were all identical SEAT Leon Cupra R's, as driven in the SEAT Cupra Championship

SEAT Cupra Championship

The SEAT Cupra Championship was a one make series that ran for six years between 2003 and 2008, the last five of which ran as a support package to the British Touring Car Championship. The series will not continue for 2009, due to SEAT UK ending its racing activities...

 which was part of the TOCA tour. As the cars were front wheel drive, older drivers such as Gravett and Sytner said they did struggle to drive as they were used to driving rear wheel drive touring cars. All cars were painted in the same grey colour except for SEAT driver Jason Plato, who drove a blue car.

Driver Grid

Below is a table which shows all the drivers who took place in the order they were drawn for their grid positions.

Grid	Driver	Nat	Car No.	Practice Time
1	John Cleland John Cleland (racing driver) John Cleland . is a retired Scottish auto racing driver. He raced autocross and hillclimb in the 1970s, before achieving success in British Production Car and Thundersaloon championships, before joining Vauxhall for the 1989 British Touring Car Championship...		95	1:18.295
2	Anthony Reid Anthony Reid Anthony Reid is a British auto racing driver, born on 17 May 1957 in Glasgow, Scotland. Although Scottish he now lives in England.-Formula cars:...		6	1:18.135
3	Julian Bailey Julian Bailey Julian Bailey is a former Formula One driver who raced for the Tyrrell and Lotus teams.Although born in the United Kingdom, he was raised in Menorca, Spain, and became an accomplished Formula Ford 1600 racer in Britain, winning the important Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch...		5	1:19.184
4	Patrick Watts Patrick Watts Patrick Watts is a British auto racing driver. He excelled in single make series in the eighties and competed in saloons in the nineties, mainly in the British Touring Car Championship. He still makes occasional appearances in historic racing events.-Early career:His first title came in 1979,...		8	1:18.907
5	Jason Plato Jason Plato Timothy Jason Plato is a British racing car driver currently competing in the BTCC for Silverline Chevrolet. He is a two time BTCC champion having previously won the series in 2001 when driving for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He has finished in the top 3 in the championship 8 times...		01	1:18.194
6	Matt Neal Matt Neal Matthew Neal is a British motor racing driver. He won the British Touring Car Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2011. He has also won a European Touring Car Championship race. He is 6' 6" tall, making him almost entirely unable to race single-seaters...		3	1:18.445
7	Kelvin Burt Kelvin Burt Kelvin Burt is a British auto racing driver. After attending the Jim Russell Racing Drivers' School in 1987 he turned to Formula Ford racing, battling hard against David Coulthard for the championship...		7	1:17.631
8	Johnny Cecotto Johnny Cecotto Alberto "Johnny" Cecotto is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver...		2	1.17.349
9	Alain Menu Alain Menu Alain Menu is a Swiss racing driver. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice . He currently races for Chevrolet in the World Touring Car Championship.- BTCC :He is the son of a farmer...		97	1:17.362
10	Tim Harvey Tim Harvey Tim Harvey is a racing driver from England. He was the 2008 and 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain Champion. A household name in the 1990s, Harvey won the prestigious BTCC title in 1992, and was a frontrunner for most of the late 80s and early 90s...		92	1:18.044
11	Frank Biela Frank Biela Frank Biela is an auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990....		96	1:18.368
12	Jeff Allam Jeff Allam Jeff Allam , was a British racing driver who made his name in Saloon Car racing. He now works as a dealer principal for Allam Motor Services in Epsom and Dorking which are a Skoda, Alfa Romeo and Kia dealership....		4	1:18.944
13	Robb Gravett Robb Gravett Robb Gravett is a British retired racing driver and team owner, a winner of the 1987 Willhire 24 Hour, and the 1990 British Touring Car Championship winner with his own Trakstar team, in a Ford Sierra prepared by Australian magnate Dick Johnson...		90	1:19.428
14	Frank Sytner Frank Sytner Frank Sytner is a British racing driver, a Life Member of the BRDC, and was the 1988 British Touring Car Champion, driving a BMW M3. He also won his class in 1990....		88	1:19.688
15	Paul Radisich Paul Radisich Paul Radisich is a New Zealand racing driver of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years - both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New Zealand.-Early years:...		9	1:17.598
16	Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini is a racing driver from Italy. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored 1 championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify...		94	1:18.006

Overview

As all the drivers took their places on the grid and waited for the starting lights, Anthony Reid, who was on the front row, jumped the start as the lights were on red. Reid went forward a few feet and as he realised his error and stopped, the lights had gone green and he'd lost several places. On the whole, the race was fiercely contested by all competitors with much panel bashing throughout. This was evident as early as the second corner as Jason Plato pushed past Patrick Watts for second place sending him onto the grass and dropping him down the field. Making the most progress on the first lap was Tim Harvey. Starting in tenth, he'd managed to make his way up to third by the time the cars had started lap two. At the front the battle was between John Cleland and Plato. Plato took the lead on lap four but Cleland stayed close and got his place back again two laps later. On lap eight Plato forced his way up the inside of Cleland on the first corner. This sent Cleland wide and both Reid and Harvey also got by. While all this was happening at the front, Gabriele Tarquini had set the fastest lap time and had already overtaken half the field. The safety car was soon brought out for a lap purely to bunch up all the drivers again who by now were quite spread apart.
After the restart there was a new race leader as Reid forcefully got past Plato. Further behind as the cars came round the craner curves, Kelvin Burt was pushed by the group of drivers behind him off the track and hard side on into the tyre wall. It was a heavy collision but thankfully, Burt stepped out the car shaken but OK. As the cars were slowed down for the safety car, somehow Harvey and Johnny Cecotto managed to collide, sending both drivers into the gravel trap and out of the race.
When the race had restarted again, Alain Menu made a move past Plato as they went round the old hairpin. Menu knocked Plato on to the grass. He tried to keep the car in a straight line to get back on to the tarmac coming under Starkys bridge, but as he returned to the track he drove straight in front of Watts. Watts had no chance to avoid and both wrecked cars spun off the circuit. By now Reid was clear in first place with Menu second. On the final lap the main battle was for third. Frank Biela had the position but the impressive Tarquini was now right behind him and managed to get side by side as they came under the Dunlop Bridge

Dunlop Bridge

The Dunlop Bridge is a footbridge situated at a number of racing circuits.The bridge is considered to be one of the most significant landmarks in a motorsport venue particularly the Circuit de la Sarthe and Donington Park., although the latter was removed during renovations for the failed attempt...

towards the final corner. At the finish, Reid took the chequered flag with Menu half a second behind. Tarquini had got ahead of Biela to take the final podium place. Just behind them Matt Neal took fifth and Cleland finished sixth in what was a thrilling race.

Final Positions

Pos.	Driver	Time
1st	Anthony Reid	29:30.38
2nd	Alain Menu	+0.537
3rd	Gabriele Tarquini	+1.942
4th	Frank Biela	+2.239
5th	Matt Neal	+4.493
6th	John Cleland	+5.409
7th	Paul Radisich	+6.717
8th	Jeff Allam	+7.106
9th	Julian Bailey	+7.950
10th	Robb Gravett	+8.224
11th	Frank Sytner	+12.076
DNF	Jason Plato	Lap 16
DNF	Patrick Watts	Lap 16
DNF	Johnny Cecotto	Lap 14
DNF	Tim Harvey	Lap 14
DNF	Kelvin Burt	Lap 13

DVD release

Extensive highlights of the race along with post race reactions were available as an extra feature on the UK DVD of the British Touring Car Championship 2004 review.

External links

• Official SEAT Sport news