Motorsport on TV in 2009 – that’s the theme for this last normal week of the year

Quantity over quality is a too harsh a way to describe ITV4‘s British Touring Car Championship coverage, but it is the sheer number of hours devoted to it – and its support series – which deserves most praise. How many other channels, not solely devoted to sport, would regularly give an entire afternoon over to broadcasting an entire race meeting? It’s sterling stuff.

But is it just me, or is Steve Rider a tiny bit dead inside? Maybe he’s been on TV so long that he can now do it with his eyes closed, so to speak. He doesn’t seem all there. Perhaps he’d rather be in a cosy studio above a football ground, than under a gondola at a race track.

Never mind. Ben Edwards and Tim Harvey are still very acceptable commentators, and the BTCC has thrown them plenty to get excited about. Especially at the last meeting of the year, which I really must get around to re-watching.

2010 will be the third year of ITV’s broadcast deal, so it should be more of the same. Which is to say: an awful lot.