GOW PRAISES BTCC'S NEW INDEPENDENTS
Alan Gow, the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship's
Series Director, has hailed new privateers to the series Eoin
Murray and Adam Jones as "revelations" after both
impressed mightily in their first few appearances.
Irishman Murray, aged 23 and the reigning European Alfa 147
champion, brilliantly scored a point on his BTCC debut at
Croft in the small Quest Racing team's Alfa Romeo. At Donington
Park yesterday, he starred in all three races, finishing one
of them in sixth position and in another briefly held third
spot. That was despite his car being handicapped with success
ballast as a penalty for starting the season late.
Solihull-based Jones, aged 25 and who in the past has won
titles against the likes of Fernando Alonso and Gary Paffett,
has also demonstrated excellent race craft in the Xero Competition
team's still-developing Lexus and at Donington earned his
breakthrough first point with a tenth place finish.
Gow says: "Both Eoin and Adam have
proved to be revelations. They have made an immediate impact
and it's very exciting to see young drivers of this calibre
using the BTCC to make their careers in motor sport.
"What they have achieved in such a short space of time
also demonstrates just how competitive a single-car independent
entrant can be in the BTCC and full marks should go to both
the Quest and Xero teams for adding to the level of competition
on the grid."
Seven new independent teams have joined the BTCC grid in
2006 and all have proved their worth in Britain's premier
motor racing championship. Mike Jordan, in Team Eurotech Racing
with John Guest's Honda, has achieved a victory, a second
place and, yesterday, a third. Fellow Honda driver Dave Pinkney,
who races for the Motorbase Performance team, has been on
the pace throughout the season, twice achieving fourth-place
finishes and setting a fastest race lap. Pinkney's performances
have recently helped him secure sponsorship from leading men's
magazine Nuts.
Martyn Bell, in the Geoff Steel Racing team's unique BMW
320i, has now scored points on three occasions. And there
was a notable gain in performance at Donington by arguably
the BTCC's smallest team, InFront Motorsport, with its Alfa
Romeo driven by Mark Smith. InFront's efforts recently earned
it coverage in the UK's most popular motoring magazine Auto
Express that sells 90,000 copies plus a week. Meanwhile, Donington
also saw the new Team Farecla outfit make its BTCC debut with
Richard Marsh at the wheel of its Peugeot 307.
Gow adds: "All of those independent
teams and drivers are making a significant contribution to
the excitement for the crowds on BTCC race day and in return
are being featured on live national television coverage on
ITV1.
"All have demonstrated that, even without the budgets
of the more established teams, they are able to be competitive
and capture the public's imagination. In terms of return on
the cost of taking part, the BTCC offers those teams exposure
like no other series in the UK."
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