2001 British Touring Car Championship

The 2001 theAA.com MSA British Touring Car Championship was the 44th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and marked the beginning of a new era of lower-cost rules and regulations for the series. Vauxhall's Jason Plato won his first BTCC championship with a narrow lead over his teammate Yvan Muller.

Changes for 2001
2001 saw a major cost-cutting exercise in the series following the out-of-control spending in the late 1990s following the peak of SuperTouring. The new BTC Touring cars were budget capped at £100,000 (€110,000) with more spec-parts. Despite the SuperTouring cars being phased out within the next two years - the BTCC combated the low number of entries in 2000 by announcing a partnership with the burgeoning Formula Saloons championship - allowing independent teams to run their ST spec vehicles in Britain's premier motor racing series.

The championship held a round outside the British Isles for the first time in 2001, visiting Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium in addition to the round at Mondello Park in the Republic of Ireland. This would be the beginning of an increased number of 'flyaway races' for the series over the coming decade.

2000 manufacturer's champion Ford opted to not defend their title in 2001 - with reigning driver's champion Alain Menu also deciding to vacate the series in favour of a drive with Opel in the German DTM series.

Vauxhall maintained their relationship with Triple 8 Race Engineering in 2001 whilst Honda moved from West Surrey Racing to Arena International Motorsport. Vic Lee Racing picked up the works Peugeot deal while MG partnered with WSR to enter the series late in 2001.

Driver's Championship
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