BTCC returns this weekend

I have followed the BTCC for a while. I am not sure I recall a time though when the grid was this healthy. Come the end of the 2009 season things were looking bleak for the series as the last of the manufacturer teams pulled out when Vauxhall had their funding removed. This weekend though will see 23 cars take to the grid in Thruxton as the thirty round (over ten events) season gets under way.