The 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship flashed before our eyes in an instant. Now, the 2014 season is looking bigger and better than ever before.
BTCC Officials have confirmed a bumper 32 car field for the upcoming season. Some drivers have been revealed, whilst others remain closely under wraps.
Here’s a short round-up of the recent activities; Before Christmas, it was confirmed that Simon Belcher, double Renault Clio Cup ‘Masters Cup’ Champion was to join the British Touring Car Championship with Speedworks Motorsport and their own Toyota Avensis under the ‘Handy Motorsport’ banner. Belcher will have continued backing from Karcher during his debut touring car season.
Former F3 Champion Mark Hynes was also confirmed as debutant to the BTCC field. MG and Triple Eight confirmed that he would be driving the third MG6 alongside Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff, who will be making a return to the team after a successful 2013 season, and will continue to have backing from the KX Academy.
Eurotech Racing announced in early December that Martin Depper, who previously drove in the BTCC in a BMW back in 2010, would be joining 2013 champion Andrew Jordan ahead of the 2014 season. Jordan also stated in the New Year that he would be working in partnership with Red Bull during the year.
With the New Year around the corner, AmD Tuning team boss Shaun Hollamby confirmed that the AmD squad would be on the grid for the new season, having acquired a Motorbase-built NGTC-spec Ford Focus. A few days later, Dave Newsham – who ran for Speedworks Racing in 2013 – was announced as the team’s new driver.
Having made on-off appearances for Team HARD over the past two years, Robb Holland confirmed at the annual Autosport International Show in Birmingham that he would be competing in the BTCC full-time in 2014 with the Rotek Racing Team. Driving an Audi S3 Saloon with NGTC specifications, the team will be backed by American brand Oakley Motorsports.
Jack Goff made a big impression in his debut BTCC season in 2013. He confirmed that he will be returning to the grid this year with the RCIB Insurance Racing team, having previously raced as part of the same brand under the Team HARD flag.
The biggest news of the year so far, and reported in full by my BTCC Girlracer colleague Marc when the news broke, is the return of two-time champion Alain Menu to the grid in 2014.
Menu will join Irishman Aron Smith, as he makes his move from Airwaves Racing, at Team BMR headed by 2013 debutant Warren Scott. BMR plan to run four cars during the season, with Menu and Smith will be driving Volkswagen Passat CC’s whilst team boss Scott will be in a Vauxhall Insignia –all of which were acquired from Team HARD.
56 days now remain before another exciting Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, with the annual Media Day which be held on Tuesday 18th March at Donington getting proceedings underway.
News and information will, as always, be available to you from www.girlracer.co.uk and also from my personal Twitter account, which has changed handles from 2013 to @nikkithompson__ By Nikki Thompson – Photos by Marc Waller
