Jordan aiming for second BTCC title

2013 BTCC champion Andrew Jordan is hoping to reclaim the driver's championship this season, after an unsuccessful defence which eventually saw Colin Turkington take the crown for the second time in his career.

Jordan, who has recently signed for defending manufacturer's champions MG/Triple Eight, is looking forward to the challenge, saying "I'm really excited, it's a change, something different and sometimes you need a change and new motivations so I'm really excited to get going".

Despite taking the manufacturer title last season, the MG run by Triple Eight Race Engineering was not the car to beat, with the West Surrey Racing BMW 125i's dominating for the majority of the season and helping Turkington to his driver's title and also WSR's team crown, and Jordan knows that it'll still be a tough ask this season to win the title. "It's only going to be small gains going from the Honda to the MG but that car was very good last year so I think we'll be a strong package together which excites me, but equally I think we can probably improve the car a little bit in areas.

"I've not had chance to drive the car yet as we're still waiting on some bits for the car but I think we'll be out on track at the start of February, I think the plan is to try and get out within the first or second week of February".

With Jordan being in one of the front running cars for this season, he has made his objectives for 2015 clear. "I've got to try and win the championship back" he said, "I won it in 2013 and lost it last year so I want to get it back and I'll be working hard to do that".

It will be interesting to see how quickly Jordan adapts to the MG after three seasons behind the wheel of a Dynamics built Honda Civic, and I'm sure there will be a lot of interest over the course of the season to see if he can match his title ambitions.

Written and interviewed by Alan Faulkner
Photo Credit: Alan Faulkner

  

Neal looking to bounce back in 2015

Honda Racing's Matt Neal is hoping for an improved 2015 season, after a disappointing campaign for him and the team last season.

The three times BTCC champion struggled in the all new Honda Civic Tourer in 2014, finishing eighth in the overall drivers standings and over 200 points behind champion Colin Turkington. 

Speaking at the recent Autosport Show in Birmingham, Neal is hopeful that 2015 will be a better year both for him and the team:

"I had a rough 2014 so I'm looking forward to getting that behind me and hopefully having a much better 2015. It's a shame because the Tourer was a great car and I'm still a fan of it but that's finished now so we're looking ahead for 2015 and building new cars; it hasn't been decided exactly which model yet but I'm excited about it".

There haven't been many announcements from the team so far during the off-season, but Honda did confirm that Gordon Shedden will be running again with the team in the second car alongside Neal, something which he is very happy about:

"We know each other well and we got on with each other off the track as well as on it, and it's continuity which is good. It's great to have Honda back in too, Dynamics never seem to build a slow car, and my engineer reminded me that in every year ending in five we normally have a good year so I'm hopeful".

As well as MG, Honda have also been joined by another manufacturer, with the Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing team entering the series with Richard Hawken and Derek Palmer Jr behind the wheel. Neal, though, is confident that Honda can continue to compete at the front and in the hunt for the manufacturer's title.

"Hopefully the Infiniti won't give us too much trouble, but it's the established packages such as BMW and MG who will give us the most trouble, and it'll be tough because we're going to have a new car. Having said that I don't think the championship is going to be any less competitive than it has been over the last few years, it's just that those teams are going to be tough to beat, but whoever wins it is going to have a fight on their hands".

Neal also admits that he is looking forward to the opening round the most, with Brands Hatch being one of his favourite circuits, and with Honda running their new car both he and the team will be looking to get a result.

It will be interesting to see which model Honda choose to run for the 2015 BTCC campaign, and whether it will be a challenger after the disappointment of the Civic Tourer last season.

Written and interviewed by Alan Faulkner
Photo Credit: Alan Faulkner

Belcher aiming for competitive 2015 campaign

Handy Motorsport driver Simon Belcher is hoping that 2015 will be a much more competitive season for him, as he and the team prepare to enter their second full season in the British Touring Car Championship.

The former Renault Clio Cup Master's champion will run the Speedworks built Toyota Avensis again after his debut season last year, and believes that this year will be a progression year for him and the team: 

"Last year was a big learning curve for us with it being our rookie season in the BTCC, but this is our progression year now. We've got lots of new developments on the car, we've got new aero, new damping and we're possibly going to change the shell too; it'll still be a Toyota Avensis but we're looking on some improvements on the shell to try and take as much as 30kg of weight out of the car, we're doing a lot of work on making the car quicker and I'm in a completely different place this year to where I was last year and hopefully it's going to be a completely different season for me in 2015".

With a number of developments taking place with the car, Belcher has highlighted his targets for the forthcoming season:

"My targets are to progress, to move forward, to improve, I'm sure that goes for everyone else on the grid, even Colin Turkington. We had plenty of top 20's last year in what was a highly competitive 32 car grid with some of the best drivers in the world in the best touring car series in the world currently; it's tough but our first goal will be to break into the top 15, and once we're consistently in the top 15 then we'll start looking at the top ten. It's a three year plan, always was, and as I said this is our progression year so we'll be looking to progress and move further up the grid".

Belcher admits that it will be tough for the team to achieve their targets, mainly due to the age of the Toyota Avensis, the first NGTC car which debuted back in 2011:

"The car qualified well last year with Tom Ingram behind the wheel, but it never really raced well, and the problem is that these were the first NGTC cars that were built so a lot of the things that are around them now are a little bit dated and need to be redesigned, upgraded, changed because the whole chassis development has moved on with the NGTC cars and with the Toyota Avensis we're a little bit left behind currently, and that's what we're looking to address for 2015".

With the season launch coming up in just a couple of months, Belcher is looking forward to the opening weekend at Brands Hatch, when hopefully the car is set up right and he and the team have got a good amount of testing under their belts.

Written and interviewed by Alan Faulkner

Photo Credit: Alan Faulkner  

Austin confident ahead of 2015 season

Exocet Racing's Rob Austin believes that 2015 will be a good year for him and the team, after a mixed campaign last season.

The 33-year-old will enter his fifth season in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship this year, with his team continuing their partnership with Exocet Fuel Additives and DUO PLC, and is confident of taking big steps forward this season:

"I think 2015 is going to be good for us; we de-stabilised last winter and didn't get anywhere near the steps we needed to go forward that we'd hoped and I don't feel I did my best as a driver last year, but I've restructured the team and we've got fantastic support from our main sponsors which has really given us the stability we need to get to work - as soon as last season finished we've been flat out on the updates that we need, we know where we're going, we're all working in the same direction and we're going to be better prepared for this season than we have been for any season previous and I think these developments to the car are going to give us an extra little bit of pace, and you don't need much in this championship to make a big difference because it's so close.

"Last season wasn't our best, but we were on par with our best as we'd taken a big step forward during 2013, however over the winter unfortunately we didn't make that big step but we did make improvements; we got similar results in a much more competitive grid but we need results, we need to take a big step forward and we're progressing well towards what we want to achieve".

With  Austin and the team working extremely hard over the winter on the team's pair of Audi A4's, he admits that the team have not had any time to test the cars during the pre-season:

"We've not been able to do any testing yet due to the work we've been doing and unfortunately the Autosport Show snook up on us this year so we weren't ready to unveil the car here as we had hoped, but having said that it is all progressing very well, and come the end of the month/early February we should be in a position where we're ready to go testing.

We've done all the maths behind it so far and we're ready to test a whole new platform, the car is going to look very different, it'll be a lot different underneath and it's going to be quite a different beast".

Looking ahead to this year's campaign, Austin has set himself clear targets for what he wants to achieve during 2015.

"Your targets are always to win, I haven't really set anything solid. Obviously like everyone on the grid you're aiming to win everything and win the championship, but the realistic expectations for me are that I've got to win more than one race and I've got to win at somewhere else other than Rockingham which I think is highly achievable. I think for me though I want to finish the season knowing that I've given it my all and done my absolute best, and I do believe that if everything comes together and we give it our best we should be in quite a decent position in the championship".

With the season launch just two months away, Austin will be hoping that he and "Sherman" will soon be able to get some track time in preparation for their fifth season in the BTCC.

Written and interviewed by Alan Faulkner

Photo Credit: Alan Faulkner

Moffat targeting points in 2015

Laser Tools Racing driver Aiden Moffat is setting his sights high in the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, after unveiling the team's brand new Mercedes A Class at the Autosport Show this weekend.

The 18-year-old will compete in his second full season in the BTCC this year, and is confident that he and the team can take big steps forward after a difficult campaign last season with the Chevrolet Cruze:

"I think 2015 will be an interesting year for us all at Laser Tools Racing; the car we've got this year seems to be a lot better than the Chevrolet and feels more suited to me personally as a driver. I've got a year under my belt now, the team's got a bit of experience and we're now in a proven car so I think we can do well this year.

"I'm hoping that we're going to get a lot further up the grid this year. Initially I'd like us to be in the top 10 frequently, we were knocking on the door by the end of last season and the car still didn't feel quite right and we always struggled to get the right set up. I think for this season, bearing in mind that we're in a proven car and we've got experience, we should be able to achieve top 10 finishes and hopefully by the end of the year we can maybe even get one top five. It's a tall order but I think if we went out and set a target of getting in the top 15 it'd be a waste of time as it's something we've already done; if we don't push ourselves we're never going to progress and other teams will catch up to us".

Despite being the youngest ever driver to compete in the BTCC, Moffat admits that he doesn't feel any pressure due to his age:

"If I'm the youngest, I've got more years to try and get up there in the championship while for some of the other drivers they're on the other end of the scale so they'll probably feel more pressure to achieve what they want to achieve soon. For me I've got so long ahead of me and already I'm not at the back of the grid, I'm moving forward and we've proved that, despite my age, we do deserve to be here so I don't really feel any pressure".     

The key for Moffat and the Laser Tool Racing team now is getting as much testing done in the car as possible before the 2015 season launch at Donington Park on March 24th.

Written and interviewed by Alan Faulkner

Photo Credit: Alan Faulkner

Plato's 2015 options

One of the main talking points of the 2015 BTCC pre-season is the future of double champion Jason Plato.

After announcing today (January 8th) at the annual Autosport show that he is still working towards a deal for the forthcoming season, here are some of the options that may be available to the former MG/ Triple Eight driver.

Chrome Edition Restart Racing/ Team BMR
A new team to the BTCC grid last season, run by former British Superbike Championship racer Warren Scott after buying the assets of Tony Gilham's Team HARD outfit in 2013. There was mixed fortune for the team last season, with Aron Smith taking two race wins, and a podium finish for Alain Menu at Rockingham, as well as point scoring finishes for Jack Goff and team principal Scott, but a season which also contained bad luck for the team due to numerous circumstances.

So far the only announcement from the team ahead of the 2015 season came towards the end of the last campaign, with Aron Smith continuing his partnership with the team in one of the VW Passat CC's. There have been whispers of Menu remaining with the team, but nothing official has been confirmed yet.

The VW's were competitive all season long, with all four cars showing their prowess in the latter stages of the campaign. With Plato's vast experience in the BTCC, he could be the key to taking the team one stage further.

Motorbase Performance
One of the oldest teams on the grid, 2014 was a mixed bag for Dave Bartrum's squad.

The season started brightly for the team, having announced the arrival of double champion Fabrizio Giovanardi in pre-season, with Mat Jackson and former single seater driver Jack Clarke completing the line up.

While Mat Jackson was the only driver to complete every lap of every race last season and took two wins and seven podiums over the season, the rest of the campaign was somewhat underwhelming for Motorbase, with Giovanardi struggling to get to grips with NGTC machinery since his return and Jack Clarke's inexperience in the BTCC, although a podium at the season finale shown his potential in the championship.

Like with BMR, there haven't been many announcements from the team about the 2015 season, but they have confirmed former Porsche Carrera Cup GB driver Alex Martin will step behind the wheel of one Ford Focus, under the Dextra Racing banner, and the team will also be running under a new name this season after losing title sponsor Airwaves.

The cars have potential, and have been at the front of the grid before - it might just take the right driver to unlock the car's full potential; that driver could be Plato, and if the team retain Mat Jackson, then Plato will be reunited with his team mate from 2009 at Racing Silverline.

Eurotech Racing
The team formed in 2006, running a Honda Integra for Mike Jordan and have ran under the Pirtek Racing banner in recent years.

Last season focused on the team's lead driver Andrew Jordan, who began the defence of his BTCC driver's title.

The team performed well in the opening half of the season, taking four wins and running strongly at the front of the grid alongside the manufacturer Honda team and keeping pace with the MG's and WSR's BMW's. However, a huge shunt in free practice at Snetterton for Jordan saw the team drop back, with the returning Martin Depper struggling with the team's second NGTC Honda Civic.

Despite the blip in the second half of the season, Eurotech remain one of the bigger teams on the grid, and with Andrew Jordan sealing his move to the MG/ Triple Eight squad, it could pave the way for Jason Plato to take the lead seat alongside Jeff Smith - although the chances of Plato stepping behind the wheel of any Honda seems an unlikely venture.

West Surrey Racing
The team to beat last season, WSR dominated in 2014, taking the team's championship, and Colin Turkington taking both the overall and independent's driver's title.

The team have been busy in pre-season too, snapping up Sam Tordoff from Triple Eight, and announcing today that triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx will be joining the squad with backing from InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

With the futures of champion Colin Turkington and Rob Collard still up for discussion, a move to WSR is unlikely for Plato, although stranger things have happened in the BTCC.

Other possibilities
There are rumours that a fourth manufacturer could be entering the grid, which could be a potential destination for Plato if the rumours prove to be true.

There is also a possibility Plato could set up his own team, if he still has backing from Tesco and KX next season.

Overall though, these seem to be the most likely options for Plato, and it'll be interesting to hear his plans for next season, sooner rather than later.

Future plans

Hi everyone.

With the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship not returning until April, there will not be many posts on this blog until the season opener at Brands Hatch.

Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to let you know what my plans are for the 2015 season.

Firstly, I will be continuing my association with the BTCC fan page, covering the Courier Connections Renault UK Clio Cup for a second successive season. Last year gave me the opportunity to report on the action of what was a close fought championship, and a taste of professional race reporting. Not only did this allow me to cover the whole championship, but I was also given the chance to cover the progress of championship runner-up Josh Cook - something I aim to continue next season.

As well as the Clio Cup,I will also be providing reports on the whole ToCA support package for the BTCC; the Ginetta GT Championship, Ginetta Junior Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup GB and the newly formed MSA Formula Championship.

With the annual Autosport Show taking place this weekend (10-11 January), the BTCC will be out in force once again, with a number of teams and drivers announcing their plans for the forthcoming season. I personally will be using this as an opportunity to post any breaking news from the show, and possibly interviews with some of the drivers competing in the 2015 BTCC season.

This year will be a big one for me on a personal note. Therefore I would like to thank all those who have given me the opportunities to get my blog off the ground. I never thought I would be in this situation when I first started the blog in mid 2013, and it has gone from strength to strength since my first post.

I know that I would not be where I am now without you, the readers. I'd like to thank all those who have taken the time out to read my blog posts, whether it be the odd post or those who keep up to date with all my posts,and hope that my work continues to be interesting and kept to a professional standard.

Let's hope the  2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship is just as exciting as it has been in recent years.

Alan