ITV1 TO SCREEN GREEN FLAG BRITISH TOURING CAR SEASON REVIEW
A review of the 2004 Green Flag British Touring Car Championship
will be broadcast on Britain’s largest commercial terrestrial
television channel, ITV1, on Sunday 31 October.
The review, 45 minutes in length, follows ITV1’s unprecedented
coverage of the championship’s ten events, including
five live broadcasts. The coverage, filmed and produced by
Granada Sport, has equated to over 13 hours’ airtime
– an increase of nearly 40 per cent over last year –
and has been watched by close to 12 million viewers.
At Donington Park last month, the BTCC title race reached
a dramatic conclusion as James Thompson beat Vauxhall team-mate
Yvan Muller to the crown by just one point. ITV1’s live
coverage of the title-deciding final round attracted the season’s
biggest audience of 1,544,000 viewers.
It was one of the most dramatic finales in the BTCC’s
47-year history and the closest finish since the championship’s
current two-litre formula began in 1991. There were also an
unprecedented ten different winners during the season.
While the action on the circuit was full of drama, there
was plenty of excitement off it too; for example, who will
forget the heated row between Anthony Reid and rival Matt
Neal at Silverstone, captured by ITV1’s cameras and
which led to additional coverage on the channel’s new
motor sport show Speed Sunday?
BTCC Series Director Alan Gow commented: “Quite how
ITV1 and Granada Sport will fit everything into 45 minutes
I have no idea. The 2004 BTCC has been amazing for everyone
involved and has made for some captivating viewing. To have
the title come down to the last lap of the year is always
something special and that is exactly what we got.
“I cannot wait for ITV1’s review – considering
how much there is to show, it will seem like a very quick
45 minutes.”
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