BTCC - Preview - Title race hots up as racing returns at Snetterton

The countdown has begun: there are now less than two days to go before the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship roars back into action at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk on Sunday.

The fixture marks the only time this year that the BTCC will race in East Anglia making it a must-see event for fans from across the region. Snetterton's location right by the A11 dual carriageway near Attleborough makes it easily accessible for enthusiasts and also holidaying families along the Norfolk and Suffolk coastlines.

Snetterton also has the longest straight of any circuit on the calendar - its 1000-metre long Revett Straight regularly provides one of the season's most dramatic sights as cars fans out sometimes up to four abreast as their drivers prepare to out-break one another into the narrow Esses chicane that follows.

Currently, the BTCC title race is finely poised. Vauxhall team-mates Fabrizio Giovanardi and Matt Neal, who between them have won the last three titles, lead the way but pushing them hard is young BMW driver Mat Jackson. However, none had an answer last week at Snetterton to fourth-placed Jason Plato and his team-mate Darren Turner whose turbo-diesel SEAT Leon TDIs shattered the lap record to top the times in pre-event testing.

But with more than 20 cars on the grid and eight different race winners already this season - and all drivers wanting to get the second half of their 2008 campaign off to the best start possible after a six-week break - the BTCC action is sure to be at its panel-scraping best.

BTCCpages.com