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."
