Martyn Bell will sit out this year’s British Touring Car Championship on medical grounds.

Bell, who scored points twice for the Tech-Speed Honda squad last season, missed three rounds of the 2009 season after a fall while on holiday.

Despite believing the injuries to his hip were easing, it has been revealed that they are, in fact, worse than first thought.

“It’s been common knowledge that I have been carrying an injury since July, but after extensive tests and treatment following the final round of the season at Brands Hatch, it has now been discovered that I suffered a fracture in my hip, and have now developed arthritis,” said Bell.

“Added to the fact that I also require surgery on a long-standing back injury, I’ve been forced into the difficult decision to sit out the 2010 season.

“It’s not a decision I have taken lightly, but in reality, I had no option. My sponsors and backers fully understand the reasons behind the decision and have already said that they will continue to support me despite this setback.”

While Bell, 45, wants to return to the BTCC in 2011, his decision to take a sabbatical means that Tech-Speed has an available seat alongside Paul O’Neill for the coming season.

Reigning champion Colin Turkington’s future in the British Touring Car Championship is in doubt due to RAC’s decision to scale back its support for the WSR BMW squad that took the Northern Irishman to the title.

Turkington, 27, has spent all but one of his eight BTCC seasons with Dick Bennetts’ squad, but said that with the team still chasing a title sponsor for 2010, he may have to look elsewhere.

“I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing this year,” he told this week’s AUTOSPORT magazine. “With WSR not having RAC as title sponsor, there’s a budget shortfall and understandably they can’t progress until that gap is filled.

“I’m just having to keep my options open. I’m looking at BTCC, WTCC and the European Touring Car Cup, as are the team, but for me I’m not prioritising one championship over another.

“I’d love to stay with WSR, but I know there are guys out there with money who might be hard to turn down.”

AUTOSPORT understands that Turkington has received offers from WTCC independent frontrunners Wiechers-Sport and Proteam. While he would not confirm this, he did say: “I have some interesting offers on the table, but I have to think long and hard about my next move, because it will be a very important one for my career.”

James Thompson will contest selected rounds of the World Touring Car Championship with Hartmann Racing this season, as part of another four-series campaign.

In 2009, the 35-year-old Briton raced in the WTCC with Lada, the British championship with a Team Dynamics Honda Civic, the Danish series with Hartmann’s Honda Accord, plus V8 Supercar outings with Ford at Phillip Island and Bathurst, and winning the end-of season European Touring Car Cup.

Thompson does not have full-time WTCC or BTCC plans this year, but with Hartmann he will contest the Danish and Scandinavian championships, the expanded ETCC and is also hoping to make the WTCC rounds at Monza and Brands Hatch.

“Last season was a busy one but we’re going to give it a go again this year,” Thompson said at AUTOSPORT International. “One of the disappointing things having done so much last year was that I couldn’t win any of the titles.

“I was leading the Danish and it would have been fantastic for my team to win it, but I was only committed to five of seven rounds and missing the last two meant we only finished third, so this year we’ll try to make amends for that.”

Thompson became the first driver to win a WTCC race in a Japanese car at Imola in 2008 and is hoping to repeat the feat this year.

“I’ve got the chance to win three championships and maybe have a go at winning another world championship race in the Honda, obviously Brands Hatch is somewhere I know very well,” he added.

Jason Plato is keen to return to the British Touring Car Championship this year – but admits that the budget is not yet in place to allow him to do so.

The 2001 title-winner secured a deal with the RML-run Racing Silverline Chevrolet squad on the eve of the 2009 season-opener and went on to finish second in the standings – just five points behind champion Colin Turkington.

When asked on stage at AUTOSPORT International if he would be back in the BTCC in 2010, Plato replied: “I hope so. I genuinely believe the BTCC is a fantastic championship and I love being part of it.

“If I can pull together a deal to make it happen, I’d like to think chances of staying where I am now are very high. Nevertheless, the cold hard facts are that the right numbers need to be in right boxes.

“2009 was probably one of most enjoyable and rewarding seasons I’ve ever done. We were underdogs, there was no manufacturer pressure.”

Plato admitted that the team had to be realistic about its financial situation.

“I love to go racing, but I’ve got bills to pay the same as anyone else,” he said. “The team has to operate on a proper budget, we made it happen this year but we can’t always do it like that. It has to make sense. It’s tough to make the numbers add up, but we’ll always try.”

If Motorsport is aiming to enter the British Touring Car Championship this year with a two-car team.

The Scottish-based outfit is likely to run a pair of Abarth Grande Puntos built to the BTCC’s new low-cost NGTC rules package, and powered by the turbocharged TOCA petrol engine.

“The Abarth is the most likely car that we’ll run, but we are still talking to two other manufacturers,” team boss Bryce Wilson told AUTOSPORT.

“Obviously we know time’s against us, and I think it’s unlikely that we’ll be ready for the start of the season. But I’m sure that with some decent testing in the bag, then we can be competitive once we do get on track.”

No drivers have yet been signed for the project. Wilson, a former Renault Spider Cup champion and Nissan BTCC test driver, will carry out much of the development work himself.

Wilson said that the BTCC’s NGTC rules package, which is due to come into force in 2011, was influential in his decision to expand his team’s programme from sportscars-only to include tin-tops.

“It obviously makes our chances of not only getting there, but also of being competitive, far higher,” he added. “We’re a professional team and I think that we can do a good job, but we need to expand the team and set our budget first so we know what we’re aiming for.”

If Motorsport was established in 2005 and has spent most of its life competing in sportscar championships. The squad has been a regular winner in the UK and European VdeV series and took the teams’ title in the UK series in ‘08.

British Touring Car Championship squad Arena Motorsport is evaluating a switch from petrol to liquid petroleum gas engines this season.

The squad, which will again run at least two Ford Focus STs this year, is likely to test a modified version of its Mountune-prepared petrol engine at Guadix in Spain February, according to team principal Mike Earle.

“We’ve considered an alternative fuel source and are currently evaluating a switch to LPG to see if there are possibilities for us,” said Mike Earle.

“Given the increasing awareness of environmental issues, which motorsport in general needs to address, and the commercial opportunities that may exist, it makes sense for us to investigate the possibilities. It’s certainly something we would be interested in.”

Tom Chilton, the only signed driver for the coming season, will drive the Focus in Spain.

Jason Plato believes the British Touring Car Championship is just as strong a series now as it was in its 1990s heyday.

The 42-year-old, who joined the BTCC in 1997 during its Super Touring era reckons the reduced manufacturer entries in recent years have made it a more open series for drivers.

“There were great days in the 1990s when we had a lot of manufacturers,” Plato said at AUTOSPORT International. “But looking back with hindsight, we wasted a lot of money and it wasn’t sustainable.

“The racing itself I honestly believe is just as good, if not better, now. Privateers, of which I was one last year, can compete on an equal playing field and – if they do a good job – win. And I think that has to be a good thing.”

Plato finished runner-up to Colin Turkington and ahead of Fabrizio Giovanardi in the three-way title fight in 2009 which went down to the final race.

Colin Turkington believes this season’s British Touring Car Championship could be one of the most open in recent years.

The reigning champion clinched his maiden title in a West Surrey Racing BMW, beating Fabrizio Giovanardi’s Vauxhall and Jason Plato’s Chevrolet in a three-way fight at the season finale.

Speaking at AUTOSPORT International this morning, Turkington explained that the performance balance between the cars means that a driver can be competitive in a wide range of machinery.

“Three or four years ago, if you weren’t in a SEAT or a Vauxhall you had no chance of winning the title,” he said. “But everybody has a good car now, you can pretty much buy any one of them and you have a chance – especially with the ballast and reverse grids.”

Turkington says he is sorry to see Vauxhall leave the series and that many plans for the 2010 series are still to come together.

“It’s disappointing to lose a manufacturer and a great driver like Fabrizio, he really set the benchmark. Hopefully the championship can attract good drivers this year, but it’s pretty quiet at the moment.

“The intention is for West Surrey to continue in the BTCC but nothing is finalised, they are looking at the World and European championships too.

“At the moment I have no commitment with the team either. I’ve been with them for seven brilliant seasons, but it’s a difficult time for everybody at the minute and I don’t think there are too many drivers out there with drives confirmed.”

A new team is set to enter the British Touring Car Championship this year with a Volkswagen Golf.

Shaun Hollamby’s AmD Technik squad took delivery of the car last weekend from Estonian team Saksa Auto, which has run it in the Baltic championship for the last two years, and is aiming for mid-grid respectability in its maiden season in the series.

“It’s time for us to move up and the BTCC is the ideal platform for us,” Hollamby, who will share the single car with British Sport Maxx champion Simon Shaw, told AUTOSPORT.

“I’m under no illusions that we’re going to be front-runners. If we can trouble the regular midfield runners then that would be fine for us for now.”

The team has secured a waiver from BTCC organiser TOCA to run the three-door car and will power it with a Lehmann-built Super 2000-spec, four-cylinder petrol engine.

Former VW Racing technical manager Chris Tweed has been appointed as the squad’s team manager. Since working for VW in Australia and the UK, he has been involved in GT projects with Farnbacher-Loles Racing and Tech-9 Motorsport.

Hollamby is aiming to begin a test programme by mid-February.

A new team is set to enter the British Touring Car Championship this year with a Volkswagen Golf.

Shaun Hollamby’s AmD Technik squad took delivery of the car last weekend from Estonian team Saksa Auto, which has run it in the Baltic championship for the last two years, and is aiming for mid-grid respectability in its maiden season in the series.

“It’s time for us to move up and the BTCC is the ideal platform for us,” Hollamby, who will share the single car with British Sport Maxx champion Simon Shaw, told AUTOSPORT.

“I’m under no illusions that we’re going to be front-runners. If we can trouble the regular midfield runners then that would be fine for us for now.”

The team has secured a waiver from BTCC organiser TOCA to run the three-door car and will power it with a Lehmann-built Super 2000-spec, four-cylinder petrol engine.

Former VW Racing technical manager Chris Tweed has been appointed as the squad’s team manager. Since working for VW in Australia and the UK, he has been involved in GT projects with Farnbacher-Loles Racing and Tech-9 Motorsport.

Hollamby is aiming to begin a test programme by mid-February.