Only one single driver has not been flagged for any offence in the BTCC this season. No track limits, grid or time penalties. No lambasting in the stewards room, no mechanical gremlins leaving points deductions. A few drivers would be just as clean if it was this time last year, as the rules for competition were very different in 2022, and that change has brought in in overly exaggerated totals when it comes to drivers being penalised.

One thing we know about 2023 is that timing sheets in British Touring Cars have seen a racking up of laps deleted in qualifying. As has been said by numerous interested parties time and again, the new system for track limits in the UK – while pushed in with good intentions – simply isn’t workable in the guise that is currently being utilised. One thing that has happened however is that the penalty totals for drivers in the championship have shot up because of that.

If every track limit transgression had been noted this season the totals would be far, far higher. As noted in a piece last month, the practicalities of policing are somewhat challenging, but there are other areas where drivers can be penalised. This season there has been some consternation at the handing out of penalties. Some appear to have been delivered with overly harsh interpretations of the rules, and some have not been given in circumstances where you would expect them to be. Others are open and close such as the engine change points deductions.

Here we list how many laps that 25 drivers have had quashed this season (two haven’t been caught putting their wheels over the kerbs,) who has had grid penalties, time penalties, points deducted for engine changes, fined, written and verbal warnings and who has had points put onto their licenses.*

Flick through the gallery below to see what penalties each of the drivers in the BTCC have been hit with in 2023:

Photos – MRUK/Palmer
* sources – TSL timing and judicial decisions via the BARC online noticeboard.