Press Release 2026
RML Group celebrated a triumphant close to the 2026 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season on Sunday (11 October), following a stellar debut campaign with new team CPRL, who placed second in the manufacturers’ championship with Mercedes.
Appointed in late 2025 to design, engineer, and build two Mercedes-AMG A35 saloons, RML Group leveraged more than four decades of motorsport pedigree to help secure three victories and six podiums across ten race weekends. An astounding feat for a team's first season.
Adam Airey, head of vehicle engineering at RML Group, explains how the team was able to achieve such heights in its first BTCC outing. “One of the unique aspects of this programme is that everything was done in-house. It wasn't a manufacturer-backed project, so we started from scratch with the base cars, scanned them, recreated all the surfaces digitally and then modified them aerodynamically.
“We ran all the CFD analysis ourselves, designed the bodywork and managed everything that followed from there. It’s a complete vehicle approach, for RML, that's fairly standard practice, but within the BTCC paddock the scale we're operating at is probably different to most teams.”
The cars showed promise in the early months of the season, but continued RML Group support through digital and circuit testing identified an area to improve performance. When that was actioned, top 10 finishes soon became podiums and victories, making CPRL one of the most in-form teams on the grid.
That constant feedback and simulation process remained ongoing, with engineers working with the team to deliver the best package possible. “Usually, it starts with the driver identifying a specific shortcoming in the car,” says Airey. “From there, it's about understanding why that issue exists. You explore possible causes, use experience and discussion to narrow down the options, and then test those ideas.“Digital engineering tools have transformed the development process. I started my career in an era of drawing boards and physical testing, so I've experienced both approaches.
“The biggest advantage to digital engineering is speed. We can make changes to a surface model, upload it to the CFD servers and have results the following morning. Achieving the same thing through traditional wind tunnel development would take significantly longer.
Today we can design a concept, press send and have answers overnight. It's an incredibly efficient way to develop a car.”While this process is innovative for series such as the BTCC, for RML Group it is the norm. “The process was actually very similar to previous programmes we've undertaken,” says Airey. “A good example would be the Porsche-based GT Hypercar project from RML’s Bespoke division, which was also developed without direct manufacturer support.
“We carried out the same type of scanning, surface recreation, development work, manufacturing and testing. While applying those methods to a BTCC programme may be novel, the underlying process is very familiar to us.”These established processes would help enable RML to upscale to further car builds, whether that is for the Mercedes or other manufacturers.
“Historically we've operated multiple World Touring Car Championship programmes from our HQ,” says Airey. “We could supply these cars to other teams or equally undertake a similar development process for a completely different base vehicle.“It's been important for us to remind people what we're capable of. It's not something we've showcased publicly for a while, but I think we can be genuinely proud of what we've achieved this season.
The race wins and podiums provide tangible proof that the approach works, and that's hugely satisfying for everyone involved.”RML Group is also an official parts supplier to the BTCC, providing specified chassis, suspension and associated components to all teams on the grid.
As such, RML Group, CPRL, and series organisers TOCA worked together to ensure the design and build of the cars remained wholly separate from the parts operation.
For more information about RML Group and its engineering solutions, visit www.rmlgroup.com
