EAST MIDLANDS TRACK NEXT STOP FOR UK'S TOP MOTOR RACING
CHAMPIONSHIP
Two weeks and counting: there is now less than a fortnight
to go before Britain’s premier motor racing championship
– the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship –
arrives in the East Midlands for its latest three rounds at
the Rockingham circuit on Sunday 13 April.
A huge raceday crowd is anticipated at the Northants circuit
which is also within easy reach for fans from the neighbouring
counties of Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire,
Hertfordshire and Leicestershire. Twelve months ago, more
then 33,000 people filed through the gates to see the BTCC
in action at the unique all-seater track.
Rockingham marks the second fixture of the BTCC’s 2008
calendar – the championship’s 50th anniversary
year – which got under way last Sunday’s (30 March)
at Brands Hatch, Kent in front of a packed trackside audience
and live ITV4 television cameras. And the ITV4 cameras will
be rolling once more at Rockingham adding to the event’s
standing as one of the region’s most high-profile sporting
attractions of the year.
There will likely be plenty of support for the Northamptonshire-based
SEAT Sport UK squad and its unique diesel-powered Leons raced
by star drivers Jason Plato and Darren Turner.
Plato and Turner will arrive at Rockingham lying third and
seventh in the standings behind reigning champion Fabrizio
Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and the BMW Dealer Team UK
squad’s rising star Mat Jackson (BMW 320si). In total,
some 27 drivers will be on the three BTCC grids representing
popular manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo, BMW, Chevrolet,
Honda, Lexus, SEAT and Vauxhall.
Rockingham is also expected to witness the BTCC debut of
new squad team48 Motorsport, run by former England footballers
Luther Blissett, John Barnes and Les Ferdinand. The team’s
message is clear – to promote multi-racial participation
in motor sport and its name relates to 1948 when the ship
SS Empire Windrush carried the first significant group of
Caribbean migrants to the UK. Indeed, drivers Darelle Wilson
and Matthew Gore’s Alfa Romeos will carry the numbers
19 and 48 respectively.
In addition to three BTCC rounds that headline the bill of
action at Rockingham, there are a further seven races for
the crowds to savour on the day from a variety of supporting
categories.
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