<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Four events into the 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing sit in the mid-season break at the top of the Independent Teams Championship, holding a slender one-point advantage over WSR. Three different outfits have taken the chequered flag first in the class standings across the opening 12 races, with the gap at the front getting ever tighter over the last two events.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Donington Park</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mikey Doble set the early pace for LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing (PMR) at Donington Park, his opening race success doubling as the overall win of the round. Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport interrupted the sequence in race two, with Gordon Shedden crossing the line third overall to take the honours among the independent teams. PMR hit back in the finale, Aidan Moffat's fourth-place finish was enough to seal a second success of the weekend for the team and put it eight points clear of WSR, taking points in every round over its nearest competitor.</p>

<figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">1 - LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | 57</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">2 - WSR | 49</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">3 - Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 46</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">4 - Steal Seel with Power Maxed Racing | 41</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">5 - Restart Racing | 35</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center"></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Brands Hatch</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The pattern continued at Brands Hatch, where Doble was again the man to beat in the opener, heading home ahead of James Dorlin, whose runner-up finish marked Restart Racing's best result of the season in the independent standings. Race two brought a rain-affected contest at the Kent circuit, and it was Árón Taylor Smith who made the conditions count, taking both the overall and independent honours for Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, the Irishman's first overall success in a decade. Doble completed the set in race three, a second triumph of the weekend and his third of the campaign so far, leaving LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing on top in four of the opening six races.</p>

<figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">1 - LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | 114</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">2 - Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 94</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">3 - WSR | 92</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">4 - Restart Racing | 80</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">5 - Steal Seel with Power Maxed Racing | 65</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center"></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Snetterton</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">WSR opened its account in round seven, the opening race of the Snetterton weekend. Charles Rainford converted pole position, secured after winning the prior day's Qualifying Race, into the team's first independent triumph of the year. Gordon Shedden then took control for the remainder of the day, topping both race two and race three, the latter marking the 54th overall race win of his BTCC career. With Rainford and Shedden both among the independents to take overall victory, the weekend continued the theme of an independent team taking the outright race win at every event so far this season, a feat that would continue in Cheshire.</p>

<figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">1 - LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | 153</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">2 - Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 149</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">3 - WSR | 146</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">4 - Restart Racing | 127</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">5 - Steal Seel with Power Maxed Racing | 98</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center"></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Oulton Park</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport made it three in a row in the first exchange at Oulton Park. On this occasion, it was Árón Taylor Smith who took the opening race of the Oulton Park weekend. It then became a WSR weekend as Rainford followed up his Snetterton pace with a second success of the season in race two, before Daryl De Leon shared the spoils in race three, the perfect run-in for the most successful outfit in BTCC history ahead of the mid-season break. Between them, Rainford and De Leon's Oulton Park results meant WSR had taken three of the six races across Snetterton and Oulton Park.</p>

<figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">1 - LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | 200</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">2 - WSR | 199</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">3 - Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 184</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">4 - Restart Racing | 170</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">5 - Steal Seel with Power Maxed Racing | 137</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center"></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing retains the outright advantage by the smallest of margins, its four successes from the opening two events still just enough to hold off an oncoming WSR, which has taken three of the last six races without reply from the championship leaders. Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport remains firmly in the conversation too; the team's five successes across the campaign so far is the most of any outfit in the championship, even if it has not yet translated into the outright lead. With the destination of the Independent Teams Championship still finely poised between all competing teams, the fight is set to continue when the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship resumes at Thruxton (25/26 July).</p>