FEATURE COVER STORY
“ At Le Mans we run on the Bugatti Circuit and that is an amazing weekend of truck racing because we have the European, French and British Championships all on track. The Brands Hatch finale is at the start of November, so we have a big fireworks event and that is normally a sell-out, even though the Championship is usually already settled by then.”
As Snell suggests, title battles have often been decided before the final race of the year, and with two drivers on this year’ s grid who have both won more than eight titles each – a feat neither Michael Schumacher nor Lewis Hamilton achieved despite dominating in F1 – demonstrates just how much a driver-truck combination can take hold.
Ryan Smith has now won the Division One title every single year for the last nine years – and that non-stop winning run must rank highly in motorsport – as even ten-time British Autotest Champion Alastair Moffatt has only won four Championships in a row!
New rules, new regulations
That could all change for Smith this season, however, because for the first time ever, the engine power and performance of the front-runners will be restricted. The top three trucks will be fitted with varying sizes of restrictor, based on championship position, to help create a closer competition.
The approach is no different to the ballast used in British Touring Car Championship, which evens even up the pack and creates exciting racing to the final round. The reverse grid approach is also in play, with the first and second qualifying laps setting the race one and two grids, reverse order for the top eight in races three and four, and the fifth taking positions from the fourth.
As a result, there is now plenty to mix up the order and with such a varied mix of talent on the grid, Snell is excited to see what the season holds.“ It is not that Ryan has got to be stopped, it is also that it has got to be challenging for him,” explains Snell.“ He sees it as a good challenge for him, and that is part of his positive mental attitude.
Callum Eason has raced in the MINI Challenge and now in the British Truck Racing Championship, with lots of transferable skills
JEP
14
Revolution- May 2025