James Dorlin Battles Hard at Donington Park in Opening Round of 2026 BTCC

Restart Racing’s James Dorlin completed the opening round of the 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park, rounding out a challenging but promising weekend with a determined drive in the final race.

Following Saturday’s introduction of the new ‘Race to Pole’ format, James lined up 16th on the grid for Sunday’s opening race, leaving work to do on race day.

Race day itself was dry, bright and windy, with James starting on the medium tyre for the opening encounter. He dropped back slightly after the start and found himself right in the middle of a tight midfield scrap. Much of the race was spent battling closely with those around him, with positions changing regularly as the group fought hard for track position.

A safety car after Cook’s Toyota ended up in the gravel at the chicane brought the field back together and gave James another opportunity to move forward. From there, he began to make progress, producing a clean move on Osborne at the Old Hairpin before pulling off a strong pass at the final corner on the last lap to take 14th place.

The second race gave James another opportunity to push forward, and he made the most of it with a strong opening lap to move up to 11th position. Another safety car interrupted the flow of the race, and once things got back underway the field remained tightly packed.

James briefly broke into the top ten with a move at the chicane, but like much of the weekend, it proved difficult to hold position in such close racing and he was shuffled back after further contact in the midfield battles. He ultimately came home in 17th place after another busy race.

Switching to the soft tyre for the final race of the day, things started to come together. Although the opening lap didn’t quite go to plan, James began to find his rhythm as the race settled down and gradually worked his way forward.

A big moment came through the Craner Curves, where contact from Shedden sent him onto the grass at high speed. He did well to gather the car and avoid further incident, but the moment cost several places and dropped him back down the order.

Despite the setback, James continued to push through to the chequered flag, ultimately crossing the line in 15th place after a race that didn’t fully reflect the pace he had shown throughout the weekend.

James added:“So that’s Round One done at Donington Park. It’s been a tough weekend for the first one, for sure. We struggled a little bit with the car yesterday in qualifying, and to be honest in the races everyone is so close that if you start in the wrong position, you can get a bit stuck there.

There have been some rough battles, but we’ve learned a lot. The positive to take is that there is definitely pace in the car, and I feel strong. We just got caught up in other people’s battles a bit too much this weekend.

There are a lot of positives, even if the results aren’t where we want them to be. We’ll move on to Brands Hatch and I’m confident we’ll be further up the order.”