For the 2012 season, we already know that the BTCC is going to bring a new scoring system into play – meaning the top 15 drivers will now score points instead of the top ten. One thing that doesn’t change however, is the way in which bonus points are handed out.

There has been plenty of discussion about how the change in scoring would have affected the title race in 2011 if the revised system had been in place, and the reality is that it wouldn’t have made much difference at all.

Matt Neal would still have ended the season as the champion for a third time, and the only changes inside the top ten would have seen James Nash beat Mat Jackson to fourth place and Alex MacDowall and Rob Collard swap positions in eighth and ninth.

However, discussions about how the change in system would have affected the championship got me thinking. How would the standings look if the championship title was decided solely on finishing positions and without the use of bonus points?

As it stands at the moment in the BTCC, drivers can earn bonus points in one of three ways.

• Securing pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session is rewarded with one point
• Setting fastest race lap is rewarded with one point
• Leading a lap is rewarded with one point

What that basically means is that – under the 2011 scoring system – the maximum points available in a weekend would be as follows:

• Race 1 – 15 for a win, 1 for pole, 1 for fastest lap, 1 for leading a lap = 18 points
• Race 2 – 15 for a win, 1 for fastest lap, 1 for leading a lap = 17 points
• Race 3 – 15 for a win, 1 for fastest lap, 1 for leading a lap = 17 points

In reality then, a driver could score a maximum of 45 points in a weekend based on their finishing position, but could then add an additional seven if they picked up every bonus point on offer.

Over the course of the season, you’re looking then at a maximum of 70 bonus points being available – equal to more than four victories under the 2011 scoring system.

So, first things first, a reminder of how the top ten in the championship standings looked when the 2011 season drew to a close at Silverstone…

Looking at the amount of bonus points each driver secured during the season shows the impact it had on each driver’s tally over the course of the year.

Outgoing champion Jason Plato and the man who took his crown Neal were the highest scorers in terms of bonus points, picking up 19 each as the title battle was decided, but they weren’t the person who actually benefitted most from the extra points on offer.

That honour went instead to Mat Jackson as, although he scored two bonus points less than Plato and Neal with 17, that was a larger percentage of his overall total. Of his final score, 8.90% per cent came as a result of bonus points.

The number of bonus points scored by each driver in the top ten can be seen below, with the table also giving the percentage of their total scored by bonus points.

So what does that actually mean – and would it have affected the championship.

Right at the very top, the answer is the same as if the new scoring system had been in place – the same man would have still won the championship. Neal’s winning margin would have been smaller, but he would still have taken the title at the end of the season with an advantage of two points over Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden, while Plato would still have been ‘best of the rest’ in third.

In fact, the only change would have been in who took fourth place. Had the points table been decided solely on results, James Nash would have outscored Jackson by 14 points to take the position, but the fact that Jackson was able to outscore his Triple Eight rival by the same margin in terms of bonus points – taking 17 to Nash’s three – meant the pair ended the season level on 191.

That meant Jackson took the position thanks to his superior finishing record, having won on four occasions compared to Nash’s single success at Rockingham.

The championship standings based on results only, can be seen below.

In reality then, bonus points didn’t affect who took the ultimate prize in the BTCC during 2011, but if things turn out to be as tight as many expect in 2012, it may be a different story altogether come October…