Toyota Avensis BTCC, dubbed ‘Next Generation Touring Car’, is more or less ready for its racing debut at in the opening rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on 3 April. The car’s just been under extensive wind tunnel testing at UK’s MIRA center.

The NGTC Avensis was joined in the MIRA wind tunnel by a road-going model, on which TOCA technical staff had installed a rear wing to help establish a baseline for the car’s aerodynamics.

“We needed to fix a position for the rear wing, based on the aerodynamics of the road car, which gave the levels of downforce we were looking for,” said the championship’s technical director, Peter Riches. “I am pleased to say that this was quickly achieved, and it means that we now have a base line for all cars built to the NGTC regulations and have saved a lot of development time and potential expense for the teams.”

The presence of Avensis BTCC should make this year’s British Touring Car Championship more interesting. Two privateer teams – Dynojet and Speedworks – have so far signed up to use this car for the entire season. Toyota has a long history with BTCC including three championship titles for Corolla drivers Win Percy and Chris Hodgetts in the 1980s while the Carina racked up numerous race victories in the ’90s.