The confirmation that BMW are returning to the DTM in 2012, is unsurprisingly accompanied by enthusiastic quotes from BMW and the organisers of the DTM.

Far more interesting are the quotes from BMW’s rivals in the championship, Audi and Mercedes. Both are very nice and positive, but also keen put it in the context of their company being better.

Audi’s Wolfgang Ullrich:

“BMW and Mercedes-Benz are our two main rivals on the global car market. The fact that we are able to compete with these two prestigious brands on the track fits perfectly into the motorsport strategy of our company. With four DTM titles since 2004, Audi is the most successful manufacturer in recent history of the DTM and the first manufacturer ever to win three DTM titles in a row. With BMW’s commitment, it will be even tougher in the DTM from 2012. We will gladly be facing this challenge.”

And Mercedes boss Norbert Haug:

“From our point of view, a good decision that confirms how important it was and how right we were at Mercedes-Benz to continuously commit to the DTM for more than 20 years, and thus longer than any other manufacturer, in such a determined way. We are looking forward to the new and respected competitor from Munich and we congratulate them to their arrival in the DTM in 2012.”

So they’re telling BMW that yes, you are welcome back, but remember: Audi is the most successful, Mercedes has been around the longest.

In other words: know your place, scum.

It’s just about as busy as weekends get for motorsport on Freeview: Formula 1 has the Japanese Grand Prix, MotoGP has the Malaysian Grand Prix, and BTCC comes to a climax at Brands Hatch.

Watching all of it won’t be terrifically straightforward, because the Commonwealth Games mean that there is precious little space on that single BBC Red Button stream on Freeview – which seems to be my favourite topic – so some of it will only be available online. We need a timetable – what, when and where!

UPDATE SATURDAY
Formula 1 qualifying was rained off this morning, and has been rescheduled to Sunday morning, 02:00 UK time, which will be on BBC One. The BBC Motorsport Schedule has been updated now, so it’s clear that the MotoGP support races will be on the Red Button, but only on satellite and cable.

So it’s going to be tricky to watch or even record the 125cc and Moto2 races – you can only record the Red Button on Freeview, and they’re not on the Freeview Red Button. And you might well want to record them, since not only are they on early, but they clash with the Formula 1 race. Fortunately, the BBC is pretty good at putting both support races on the iPlayer – keep an eye out here later on Sunday.

This all seems desperately complicated – and it is – but I’m just grateful I’ve not got Eurosport: then I’d have to add in the British Superbikes finale from Oulton Park too. Cor blimey!

Team Aon had a storming weekend at Silverstone, taking victory in all three races, despite more restrictions to the LPG turbo engine after the Ford Focus locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying.

But team orders were extensively employed, and to questionable effect. The BTCC standings before this weekend looked like this:

Tom Onslow-Cole – The OC, if you will – was the team’s highest place driver, and took pole position. Despite that, the team favoured Tom Chilton, and The OC moved over to let Chilton win both races one and two. Missing a gear was the excuse trotted out by The OC after the first race, but Chilton acknowledged team orders after race two.

Team orders are legal in the BTCC, though it is frustrating when teams try to hide it. But in this case, the team orders seem wrong as far as the championship is concerned. The only conclusion is that Chilton has something in his contract.

Regardless, after today’s final race, which The OC won with Chilton down in 6th, this is how the standings look:

But how different would it be – for both drivers – had The OC won all three races today, as he really should have? Swap the two Toms’ finishing positions in today’s races, and the points would look like this:

It wouldn’t change the position of either driver, but The OC would be more comfortable in 2nd, and within sniffing distance of Jason Plato at the top of the standings. Chilton’s 5th in the championship would be more vulnerable, but really, if you’re 44 points or 52 points off the lead of the championship, what difference does it make?

All Team Aon have done is make Plato’s life at the top a little easier, and similarly Matt Neal’s task of retaking 2nd overall. Getting behind The OC is the best chance they have of taking the title. If they miss out by a few points to one of those two seasoned campaigners, they’ll only have themselves to blame.

There are three series which I’m forced to follow through highlights shows: British Superbikes, WTCC and World Superbikes. Well, not quite forced to: I could get Eurosport and watch them live. But I don’t. The point is: there is definitely a skill in crafting a highlights package, and not all of these manage it.

British Superbikes, on ITV4, represents close to the ideal highlights show. For one thing, there’s a real, actual presenter on screen and on the grid – James Haydon. As I have previously remarked, he now does a very good job indeed.

The downside is that the commentary is not bespoke: it’s an edit of Eurosport’s live coverage. But you’d not want to replace the ever-entertaining Jack Burnicle and James Whitham, and the highlights are extensive enough to still convey the story of the race – the programme is an hour long for standard two-race meetings, with an extra 30 minutes for the triple-headers.

That’s where World Superbikes on Channel 4 falls down. The problem is that two races – plus qualifying – are stuffed into less than half an hour; and while Charlie Webster provides a voiceover, race commentary is an edit of the world feed by Jonathan Green and Steve Martin. In a busy race, you end up with lots of shouting about the overtaking moves, and little idea of who’s where and who’s going where. So, bizarrely, you get better highlights from races with less action, because there are fewer quick, jarring cuts from one overtake to the next.

World Touring Car Championship highlights on ITV4 also squeeze two races plus qualifying into half an hour. The difference is that the commentary is specific to the highlights show – it used to be Martin Haven, but earlier this year Ben Constanduros took over. And it works: because the commentary is continuous, even when there’s a lot of action, there’s still time to cover how the race is progressing as a whole. There’s a bonus of watching WTCC highlights too: it cuts out all the bloody safety cars.

So the conclusion is you either need lengthy highlights, or a bespoke commentary. Easy!

It’s going to be a slow news month, with Formula 1 taking its month-long summer break, and MotoGP taking a few weeks off too. It doesn’t mean there’s no motorsport on TV though. Oh my no.

Fortunately, this weekend marks the end of the BTCC‘s own, even longer summer break, which means an entire afternoon of action from Snetterton on ITV4. Even more fortunately, the forecast is good: potential for a touch of rain on Saturday, then dry and warm – but not hot – on Sunday.

The weather could be important. Tom Onslow-Cole – who I confused at Thruxton on Wednesday – wants cool weather to be kind to the tyres on the Ford Focus. Conversely, the BMWs are kind to their tyres, so they’re after hot weather. Which they’re not likely to get.

You’d have to agree with championship leaders Matt Neal and Jason Plato, then: the two Toms in the LPG-turbo Focus should go bloody well. Especially on Snetterton’s long straights.

My eyes will be on – and at – Brands Hatch though, for British Superbikes. Same story with the weather: bit of rain possible on Saturday; warm and dry on Sunday.

It’s a curious point in the season: there are two more meetings until the points are reset, and the top six riders enter the showdown for the title, with only their podium credits carried forward. The top five – Tommy Hill, Josh Brookes, Ryuchi Kiyonari, Michael Laverty, Michael Rutter – are looking fairly safe.

But the pressure is on for the final place in the showdown. It’s John Laverty as things stands, but Alistair Seeley is just one point back. Stuart Easton has an outside chance too, but has had a shocker for the last four meetings.

With three races at Brands Hatch this weekend, it’s going to be absolutely crucial for that battle. Meanwhile the top five will be doing everything they can to pick up podiums, to give them a headstart in the showdown.

So there’s an interesting make-up to the meeting, and best of all it’s on the Grand Prix layout, which is always a treat. It’s been a long time since I’ve been round the back of the circuit. I can’t wait.

The BTCC summer break is so very long, isn’t it? We need something to keep us going. Something like… a graph. Yes, a graph of cumulative points by round of the championship so far, for the top drivers.

After all, there’s good data available, thanks to the company responsible for timing in the BTCC. Go on, treat yourself:

What fresh insight does this offer us? Well, it pretty clearly illustrates that Matt Neal, cartoon villain and current points leader, has been ludicrously consistent. In fact, the lack of variation in the gradient of his line is positively inspirational.

Equally clear is where Jason Plato lost the top spot: that disastrously horizontal segment of line around the Brands Hatch GP meeting. He scored, on average, a huge 1 point per race between rounds 7 and 10. Not helpful.

Stephen Kane and Gordon Shedden – 3rd and 5th overall – have also been consistent, but it looks like Tom Onslow-Cole – who really should be referred to as The OC – is the man to watch: he started slowly, but that line sure is creeping up fast now. Even Matt Neal agrees, and that’s without the benefit of this mighty graph.

With the BTCC on its traditional extended summer break, it seems like a good time to cast an eye over the season so far. Foremost in my mind is Triple Eight, which has come out from behind the financial shield of the Vauxhall factory team.

The deal only came together in the week before the season opener at Thruxton, but got off to a flier with Fabrizio Giovanardi leading the championship after the first meeting. Then it all fell apart.

The team entered as Uniq Racing with Triple Eight, additional sponsorship coming from WD-40, the personal sponsor of the team’s other driver, Phil Glew. But it was all too much for Uniq: they were overwhelmed by the demand generated by the brand exposure, to the point that they had to withdraw sponsorship.

Hmm. It’s hard to believe that, given that there are a few companies with the name Uniq, and it’s not easy to find the right one via, say, Google. Incidentally, it’s the one at uniqmotorsports.com, not uniq.com or even uniqracing.eu. So where all this interest came from is anyone’s guess.

But that’s what happened. Apparently.

Anyway, Giovanardi and Glew both lost their drives. But it created an opportunity for James Nash, who has been the team’s only regular driver since the second round at Rockingham. Initially his car carried Avatar branding, from the distributor of the DVD and Blu-ray release. That only lasted one meeting though, and since then his car has been rather blank – so it’s not obvious where the money to go racing is coming from.

The other man to get in a Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra this season is Daniel Lloyd, first at the mid-season Rockingham test, and then racing at Croft – backed by the delightfully orange TNT Post. His website is rather snazzy, and is hopeful that he’ll be back in the car for future rounds.

It’s hard to judge Lloyd’s performance, since it was his first BTCC appearance. But his 7th, 14th and 8th place finishes compare favourably to Nash’s first meeting of the year, which yielded a retirement, 10th and 8th. Not forgetting that Nash contested a number of rounds last season in a Chevrolet. So you’d have to say that Lloyd deserves another outing, but as always it all depends on money.

What’s worrying for the BTCC is that Giovanardi still has eight championship points more than Nash, despite having competed in one round to Nash’s four. It just looks daft. That’s not intended to be a criticism of Nash. But it is sad that due to sponsorship wrangling, the championship is missing a top driver – Giovanardi – in a top car.

He’s now off working with N.Technology on developing the Porsche Panamera S for the Superstars Series, Italy’s main tin-top championship. There are other familiar names to be found over there too: Johnny Herbert and Gianni Morbidelli, amongst others. Clearly there’s more money sloshing around in Italy.

Rockingham hosted a BTCC test yesterday, which amongst other things gave us the first chance to see how the Team Aon Ford Focus is getting on with its newly restricted LPG-turbo engine. I can’t find anything official to say that the team was definitely running the detuned engine, but TouringCarTimes reckons it was, and it seems only logical. Plus: the speed traps tell their own story.

It’s fortunate that Rockingham has already hosted a round of this year’s championship. So let’s compare yesterday’s test to April’s meeting.

This, presumably, is the sort of analysis that Alan Gow described as “self-serving guesswork”. Ah well, let’s carry on.

Since everyone – well, Jason Plato mainly – was concerned about the outright straight line speed of the LPG Focus, we’ll concentrate on the finish line speed trap, since it’s the fastest of the three on the circuit. The picture is remarkably clear.

Back in April, Tom Chilton was fastest thanks to that pesky LPG engine, at 110.4 mph. That was well clear of the fastest non-LPG powered driver, who was Matt Neal in free practice 2, at 106.5 mph.

Yesterday, Paul O’Neill in the morning session was the fastest over the finish line, at 105.7 mph. Tom Onslow-Cole was the fastest Focus, at 105.2 mph in the same session.

What that pretty clearly implies is that the LPG Focus is now at about the same level as the competition. Or some of the competition, at least. Plato still seems to be lacking outright grunt, third slowest over the finish line in both sessions yesterday.

But it’s not just about grunt, as shown by the overall lap time classification for yesterday’s test. Andrew Jordan with the NGTC-engine in his Vectra narrowly beat Plato to the top of the time sheets, while Chilton was the top LPG man in 6th – though he was 2nd in the afternoon session.

The top eight overall were covered by less than half a second, and contained five teams, four manufacturers and three types of engine. It’s close enough, then.

All about the good ship Quote Boat, for some choice quotes from the last few days.

Formula 1 first, and Lewis Hamilton, who at the Monaco Grand Prix responded to being told to look after his brakes in an unusually sarcastic manner:

“We’re only halfway through the race. What the hell? Do you want me to race these guys or look after the car?”

Although that’s not quite how McLaren represented Hamilton’s words on their otherwise admirably comprehensive commentary log:

“Am I not even halfway through the race yet?”

Yeah, that’s nearly what he said.

Further, Hamilton had the cheek to say this to Reuters about Red Bull Racing‘s performance:

“It’s not scary, it just takes the mickey a little bit. They were just not pushing at all really.”

Frustrated at all, Lewis? Well, I’m sure he’ll get over it.

BTCC next, and as predicted, the Team Aon Ford Focus has had its LPG-turbo engine detuned a touch. But series big man Alan Gow was keen to point out that only TOCA can access the data needed to come to such a decision:

“Therefore anyone who may moan or theorise about the relative performances of different cars is generally using little more than self-serving guesswork, often laced with a fair amount of paranoia.”

Either that, Alan, or they have eyes, and can see how fast the only car with an LPG engine is. One of the two.

Finally to MotoGP, and Jorge Lorenzo, who autosport.com have quoted as saying:

“Despite our victory in Jerez and taking the lead in the world standings I continue to think that I am not the favourite.”

Don’t worry Jorge, I don’t think anyone has you down as the favourite for the championship. You certainly have a chance, but Valentino Rossi is obviously the favourite, and will probably remain so until he retires. But thanks anyway.

Something BTCC boss man Alan Gow said to Louise Goodman in ITV4′s build up to yesterday’s meeting at Brands Hatch didn’t sit right with me at all. Jason Plato had, of course, been complaining that the LPG turbo powered Team Aon Ford Focus was too damned fast in a straight line. He’s probably right. Goodman put that to Gow, who dismissed it, with the observation that the equalisation rules are about the package as a whole, not just top speed or any other individual element.

Rewind to last November, when Gow introduced the mandatory longer first gear for the BMWs, specifically to negate their advantage off the line. He dismissed the fact that rear-wheel drive cars, though having an advantage off the line, have disadvantages in the wet, and are virtually unable to recover from even the smallest tap from a competitor. It demonstrably wasn’t about the whole package; it was about addressing one specific element.

But inconsistency is nothing new in rule making. Gow’s other argument against changes to the LPG regulations – that the cars hadn’t won a race – are now very much a thing of the past after their stunning performance at Brands Hatch. Perhaps they will be detuned a touch. But one thing’s for sure: complaints from the likes of Plato are only going to get louder.