Nice summary from the day by Nick at Surreal Illusions - Racecar clients Chilton and Macdowall look competitive:
BTCC 2011 officially gets underway under blue skies and a bright future at Silverstone.
Bright sunny skies, the first chance to see some of the 2011 BTCC liveries, a great turnout of media, cars, drivers and spectactors, new cars, new drivers, new manufacterers, some great looking cars, plus some thrills and spills before the racing has even started.
The tug of war between Matt Neal and Jason Plato got off to a fun and light hearted start in a Dunlop demonstration in the Press Centre, much to the amusement of everyone present.
Dunlop, who have recently signed a new 3 year deal with the BTCC, are looking forward to a bright and committed future with the BTCC, much like ITV who are throwing alot more towards the BTCC this year in terms of coverage. The BTCC will be broadcast in HD, both live in ITV4, plus support races, and a highlights package on ITV, with live qualifying streamed online on the Saturday. All amounts to 140 hours worth of footage throughout the year. Thats alot of motorsport action!
Series director, Alan Gow, saying that this coming year is a transitional year between the old S2000 and the new NGTC regulations, and a mixture of the 2 in some cases. Some, though, didn't even make it the launch, such as the return of Audi, where the car isn't even built. The field was closely matched on times, with 1.4s covering the top 16 drivers. With differing fuel loads, tyres, ballast and various other factors, not much should be read into the figures, but things do look promising.
However, some teams making the jump before the switch over in 2013, have high hopes of the new NGTC regulations.Honda's Matt Neal is one of them, and expecting an improvement over 2010 where the Honda was, amongst the Chevrolet's, the best handling car in the field. Expect fierce battle's between the 2 again. The fight will be of particular interest as Neal has the new turbo engine, whereas Jason will be keeping his S2000 engine. The difference, perhaps, more notable at power circuits such as Silverstone. Neal, finished the day in 3rd, despite a front right puncture.
Jason is a little more cautious this year, going into 2011 as defending champion. He says the BTCC is "very competitive", "anything can happen" and that everyone is in for thrilling season. Plato finishing just behind his arch rival 4th.
Chris James' debut in the BTCC got off to a rather embarrasing start by spinning out, in front of the pit wall, on his first lap out the pitlane, on the photography tracking laps. The day didn't get much better, when an engine problem forced him to spin out on his own oil at Brooklands half way through the session, causing the only stoppage of the first official test session.
Another driver suffering mechanical problems was Tom Onslow-Cole, who only managed 1 lap in the official test session before an engine problem set the team back. Shaun Hollamby, now team director, is still optimistic about the season ahead, and with Tom in the driving seat they hope to develop the car to be a consistent points and podium finisher.
Speedworks, more famous for their recent success in the British GT Championship with Ginetta, have pinned their hopes to the new NGTC regs but suffered a lacklustre shakedown, having only took hold of the car a few short days before the test. Power steering and fuel pressure problems cut their running down to 5 laps.
The 2 BMW teams, WSR and Geoff Steel Racing, were on similiar pace, on a circuit where the BMW is not as suited as the turbo charged cars.
Both teams were happy with their performance, particularly Martyn Bell, team manager of Geoff Steel Racing who was chuffed to bits with Dave Newsham's performance on the day. Newsham making the jump up from the Clio Cup, which he won in 2010, to a rear wheel drive BMW Touring Car. While he is still learning about the car, they both aim to consistantly amongst the points. He ended up in 15th, and a respectable 1.1s from the fastest time, set by Andrew Jordan in his Turbo powered Vauxhall.
WSR are expecting better things at Brands Hatch. The day went smoothly, despite ending up down towards the back end of times. However, Brands Hatch should suit the BMW better as its less of a power track that Silverstone is.
James Nash was unable to taketo the circuit in his 'stealth machine' (according to his Facebook update on the day), and is expected to announce a sponsor soon. However, he did take to the track in the sister 888 car of Tony Gilham. Setting the 2nd fastest time on the day.
The times at the end of the day were as follows:
1. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 59.982s2. Tony Gilham * Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m00.228s + 0.246s3. Matt Neal Honda 1m00.251s + 0.269s4. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m00.367s + 0.385s5. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m00.385s + 0.403s6. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 1m00.394s + 0.412s7. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m00.448s + 0.466s8. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m00.509s + 0.527s9. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m00.593s + 0.611s10. Andy Neate Arena Ford 1m00.605s + 0.623s11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 1m00.718s + 0.736s12. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1m00.759s + 0.777s13. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m00.766s + 0.784s14. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m01.006s + 1.024s15. Dave Newsham Geoff Steel BMW 1m01.130s + 1.148s16. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m01.378s + 1.396s17. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m04.391s + 4.409s
* James Nash in Gilham's car set the time.
Images & Words: Nick Deeley, Surreal Illusions Motorsport Photography.
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