BMR’s stellar new line up is the top story in our BTCC news round up

Power Maxed Racing -The sponsors liked the team so much they bought it! (photo by Marc Waller)It’s been a busy week for announcements in the past week. First up, the biggest news is BMR’s line up for 2015.

Team Boss Warren Scott is returning along with Aron Smith but he is joined by the top two in the championship from last season, Jason Plato and Colin Turkington. Plato was first linked to the team in January but internet rumours have since put him at various teams and manufacturers. Turkington will be more of a surprise as he had revealed his initial intention was to try and defend his crown at WSR. (More on them later!) Warren Scott is excited to get on with the season; “I am eager to get started on what will be a very exciting year ahead of us in the BTCC, with the strong driver line-up that we have in place along with a superb team of engineers, mechanics and other members of the Team BMR family, I feel confident that we have the potential to be championship contenders in 2015.” Plato explains what persuaded him to join;

“The decision for me to get involved with the outfit just became easier and easier,” he said. “It’s a fantastic team of people, it’s well funded and it has the right ingredients to bake the best cake there is! It’s something quite serious that Warren has put together, he’s not playing games. “The driver line-up is right up there, we’ve got two heavyweights in the same team from a technical point of view and the two guys who were the focus last year on track.

I think it’s going to be amazing. The performance push that both of us will give will help everybody.” Turkington is clearly pleased to be able to defend his title this time, unlike in 2009 when a lack of backing saw him without a drive; “I’m delighted to be defending my BTCC crown with Team BMR,” he said. “Getting behind the wheel of the Volkswagen is a fresh challenge after seven seasons in rear wheel drive machinery. “I know that I’ll need to work harder than ever to get up to speed, but I’m extremely motivated to succeed. Team BMR is still a relatively young outfit in BTCC, however there is a strong team of experienced personnel behind the scenes working incredibly hard to make sure we can challenge at the front from the off. “The collective ambition, motivation and hunger to win made this the perfect opportunity for me.” With improvements being made to the cars during the winter, this teams impressive line up is sure to make them contenders in 2015. Before last weekend WSR confirmed that their final seat will be taken by Rob Collard, the only 2014 driver with the team to return. Collard joins Andy Priaulx and Sam Tordoff in another strong line up.

Collard will be hoping for more of this in 2015 (photo by Marc Waller)2014 Rivals now united but will their be inter team harmony or conflict (photo by Marc Waller)Plato and Turkington's 2015 car back in 2014. Will they be quick in it (photo by Marc Waller)Collard finally gets to confirm his place in the team after expressing frustration at Autosport that he might be out of a drive if Turkington had remained with the team. He is clearly delighted to be back; “I am delighted to be racing for WSR for the sixth consecutive season and it’ll be my eighth in total with the team in the BTCC. We have had some great memories together and I believe there are many more to come. I am looking forward to getting back behind the wheel during testing over the coming week as we prepare to defend our titles in 2015.” Team boss Dick Bennetts explains his reasons for re-signing the Hampshire based driver; “Rob has been a mainstay of WSR for a number of years and we’re extremely pleased to have him signed up for another season.

It’s great to welcome the talents of both Andy Priaulx and Sam Tordoff into the team but we felt it was vital to have some continuity in our driving ranks. Rob’s speed and experience are there for all to see and he will, as ever, play a key role in helping WSR challenge for more titles.” The other big announcement this week was that BTC Racing, who entered last season as Power Maxed racing have been bought by the owners of sponsor Power Maxed, Automotive Brands. BTC racing owner, Chris Stockton has business commitments this season and decided to sell to Power Maxed, although he will still be involved with running the team. The team look set to continue to be known as Power Maxed Racing but have yet to announce their driver for the season. Several BTCC teams are due to be testing at Thruxton this week although AMD Tuning.com have already been forced to withdraw as their 2015 driver, Mike Bushell is in hospital with Pneumonia.

We will have further BTCC reports later in the week. By Marc Waller

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