After twenty years of dominating the BTCC, Vauxhall's dominance has come to an end. They announced in April that they would no longer be competing from the end of the 2009 season.
When General Motors first decided to enter into the touring car championship, they hired Triple 8 Racing to design, build and race the Vauxhall cars. This was the first moment when Vauxhall had entered into BTCC as a manufacture.
Four Vauxhall drivers won the Driver's Championship between 1989-1995. This showed an early dominant force, but then a dry spell hit. They would not win any trophies for six years. They were the first team to win the 'treble' for four consecutive years.
The introduction of the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch in 2005 saw them win the constructor's title, but no driver's title. This would be the start of the terrible season that was to follow in which they did not win a single title.
2007 saw a new era of BTCC. They adopted S200 regulations, used in WTCC. The changes meant that Vauxhall had to drop the Astra and decided to replace it with the Vectra. Despite having a short amount of time to develop the car, it brought instant success, winning the driver's and constructor's titles.
When the announcement of SEAT leaving the BTCC at the end of the 2008 season, Vauxhall became the only manufacture team in the sport.
The final season saw Vauxhall take home the constructor's title in the thrilling race of last weekends race at Brands Hatch. They went out with a bang and was rightfully deserved.
They may have left due to no other manufacture based teams in the sport and the global economic downturn, but they have said they are still leaving the door open with the possibility to return in the future.
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