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
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