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I WILL ONLY GET FASTER IN 2020

McLaren star ready to pounce in fresh campaign

By Matt James Formula 1 driver Lando Norris says his second season in the top flight will eclipse the achievements of his stunning debut campaign.

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The McLaren driver finished in the points on 11 occasions during his maiden grand prix year, and he scored a best result of two sixth place finishes.

The 20-year-old, who remains with the team and will drive alongside Carlos Sainz Jr again, was a star guest at last weekend’s Autosport International show.

He told the fans: “I’m happy with the progress I’ve made, the progress we made – my engineers, the team I work with – and I think it’s put us in a much better position for next year. I think I have a strong list of what I need to work on.”

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ISSUE MJ3213 JANUARY 15 2020

INTHISISSUE Pulling the covers off the WRC 2020

P14 TO INFINITI AND BEYOND IN THE BTCC

The British star opened the ASI show on Saturday One of Norris’s highlights was sixth place in Austria

P19

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AUTOSPORT SHOW

By Matt James Rising British star Lando Norris has pledged to maintain his open attitude towards fans of Formula 1 as he begins his second season in grand prix racing with McLaren.

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How Britcar came back from the brink

P27 Racing news Historic race and rally news Rally news To Infiniti and beyond in the BTCC Highlights from the Autosport Show Revealing the secret of Clubmans How Britcar came back from the brink Hansens hunt for the next generation

4 Sporting Scene 13 Letters/Comment/What’s On 14 Classifieds 19 20 25 27 28

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That was the message he gave to his supporters at the Autosport International Show last weekend. The 20-year-old was a guest on Saturday at the NEC. He said his open attitude and his connection with the fans through social media would not slow down.

He said: “These are things I have grown up within. I have been on social media since I was a little kid. It is about giving people a look behin at how Formula 1 w given them a knowl an F1 driver does, h and what they get to enjoy what I am d give people an insig things they might n other drivers.”

Aiming hig Norris returns for his second season with McLaren in 2020 and he will

Brown: not expec miracles in 2020

once again be partnered by Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. The Brit said that consistency with the car will help him take a further step forward in 2020, although he stopped short of saying that the team would be back in the winner’s circle in the fresh campaign.

“Things aren’t as different as what they were last year.

Last year was a completely different car, with a lot of mechanical problems.

“You don’t always hear about every problem that goes on in a team and in Formula 1. But we were kind of suffering a bit at the beginning of last year.

“And there was a new car so we were trying to get as much understanding as we could get, whereas this year’s car is much

year. It’s just working on all of the areas.”

As well as improvements from the car and the team, Norris is also focused on himself to try and dig even deeper during the 2020 season. He has identified some areas where he aims to improve.

He said: “I’m more confident in my own driving, because it’s my second year in Formula 1.

I’m happy with the progress I’ve made, the progress we made – my engineers, the team I work with – and I think it’s put us in a much better position for next year.

“One of the biggest things I’ll be working on this winter is my knowledge of the car – how it works, not just how to drive it faster around corners or brake later or whatever. [It is about] the set-up and everything like that. mprove more as a nd [get] the car [to] er for me, and me er with the car. en there’s some things as well that I know mprove and every it’s kind of similar et a little bit better at. omes to next season o] put it together again. me things are etitive, some things just more [about] owledge and a bit everything. I think ave a strong list of what eed to work on.”

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HEADLINE NEWS Photos: LAT

Norris says he has learned lessons in 2019

NORRIS: I’M READYTO TAKE ANOTHER STEP IN 2020 British McLaren star wows the crowds at Autosport International Show Perfect partner

Norris also discussed his relationship with his team-mate Sainz and credited their strong rapport with McLaren finishing fourth in the 2019 constructors’ championship rankings.

“We’re both looking at the longer game of ‘if we both want to achieve what we want to achieve, which is to win races, to win championships, the best thing is to work together’,” said Norris.

“We wouldn’t have finished P4 in the championship as a team if we didn’t work as well together as we did last year.

“A big part of what we have achieved is because of how we work together, how we help each other, how we try and help the team.

“At the moment, it’s only benefiting us in every way. I hope it continues because I just want to have fun and enjoy it and he does as well.

Upturn in form

Norris contested his first season in the top flight in a McLarenRenault and stunned with his strong performances.

The Formula 2 graduate joined Sainz in the British team for his maiden season, and finished 11th in the standings with 11 points finishes from the 21 races. But for some poor reliability, he could

have finished in the top 10 of the standings.

It marked a strong improvement for the former world title-winning team McLaren, which was behind only Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull in the points. It was the squad’s best position since the 2012 season, when Britons Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were partnered at the team and was the last season McLaren won a race.

Team boss Zak Brown said that the leap forward in competitiveness would be hard to replicate in the forthcoming campaign.

“We need to keep going forward,” said Brown. “We had a huge step, obviously, from 2018 to 2019. Part of that was we were so poor in 2018, that it was hard not to take a big step in 2019.

So I don’t see that same step coming from 2019 to 2020.

“Really, what we need to do is just get tidier, more race fit, get a good head-start, the 2021 car’s already in the wind tunnel, we feel pretty good about the 2020 car. And we just need to kind of keep our head down and know that it’s not going to happen overnight.

“We’re going to have some great weekends and we’re going to have some bad weekends.

But let’s just hope that we keep moving forward.”

Norris and Sainz have a strong partnership

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RACING NEWS F1 ROUND-UP British GP start time Formula 1 has revealed its race weekend schedule for the 2020 season, which includes the start time of the British Grand Prix being moved back an hour compared to 2019. The start time of the Silverstone race was set at 1410hrs last year and, allowing for the time difference between BST and CET, that brought it in line with 1510hrs start times in the rest of Europe – to help TV companies maintain a consistent weekend schedule. But it has now been moved back to 1510hrs, which means the British GP timetable will be the same as other European races, but an hour later for anyone watching on TV outside the UK.

Renault“naked”

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul says Daniel Ricciardo’s arrival last year left the team feeling “naked” with nowhere to hide. The manufacturer endured a rollercoaster 2019 campaign, during which the hype surrounding Ricciardo’s arrival was tempered by reliability issues, upgrade problems and a high-profile disqualification from the Japanese Grand Prix, as it finished fifth in the constructors’ championship. “For me, 2019 was a year where we became naked with nothing to hide,” Abiteboul said. “With great drivers and a much better engine, there was nowhere to hide. But you know, that’s F1. And because we were not hiding, we’ve been able to again see what action we have to take.”

Gasly’s movie

Pierre Gasly says his Formula 1 season driving for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso felt like a “Hollywood movie”. Gasly graduated into a Red Bull seat for 2019 after a promising debut campaign with Toro Rosso the year before, but he struggled to match Max Verstappen and was placed back at Toro Rosso ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. He said: “It’s been almost like a Hollywood movie.

I would not even imagine it’s real, like all the stuff that happened, how it started, when it started, and the things that happened during the first six months. Then after the swap, the way I got back into the [Toro Rosso] team, it just did not feel real.”

LECLERC: I’VE STILL GOT TO LEARN FROM VETTEL The Ferrari driver insists he is working well with his team-mate, despite their clash

By Jonathan Noble Charles Leclerc has admitted he still has a lot to learn from Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Sebastian Vettel despite a strong first campaign against the fourtime world champion.

The Monegasque driver took more pole positions, wins and points than Vettel during a 2019 season that featured some controversial moments between the pair – including a collision in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Speaking on stage at Autosport International on Sunday, Leclerc said having Vettel alongside him was still a positive because of the way the German had opened his eyes about the job he needed to do.

“I learned a lot, really a lot,” said Leclerc about working with Vettel. “I mean, he’s extremely professional and he’s also a very nice person.

“We were working well together. Obviously, we’ve had our moments on the track, in which we’ve learned together, and hopefully it won’t happen again things like in Brazil.

Photos: LAT

“But at the end, I think we are mature enough out of the car to work together and to try to develop in the right way.

“I think in the way he’s working with the team and the engineers, I’ve learned a lot and I’ve still got a lot to learn. He’s going a lot in the details, and things that I never thought will be helpful to the engineers, he will say anything.

“Sometimes I’m just here listening for one hour what he has to say about the session. He’s just very, very interesting.”

While Ferrari was unable to put together a title challenge last year, Leclerc says the short-term ambitions remain high ahead of a campaign that he believes will be crucial for laying the foundations for 2021 and beyond.

“I think 2020 will be a very important year, where teams are going to invest a lot obviously because then the budget cap is coming in 2021,” Leclerc added.

“I’ll try to be as ready as possible for 2021 as I think it will be a big year. And hopefully we’ll be working properly with the team to build the right car to be able to win the championship.”

VERSTAPPEN TO STAY AT RED BULL UNTIL 2023 Max Verstappen has extended his Formula 1 deal with Red Bull until the end of the 2023 season.

Verstappen, who became part of Red Bull’s junior programme in 2014 and was handed an F1 drive with its junior team Toro Rosso the year after, was promoted to the energy drink giant’s main F1 outfit during the ’16 season.

He has won eight grands prix since and in 2019 he took a careerbest third place in the drivers’ championship standings following Red Bull’s switch to Honda engines.

“I am really happy to have extended my partnership with the team,” Verstappen said.

“Red Bull believed in me and gave me the opportunity to

Chadwick’s new role

W Series champion Jamie Chadwick will have an increased simulator programme with the Williams Formula 1 team in 2020 after being kept on as a development driver. Chadwick joined the outfit as part of its driver academy during last season and, as well as some simulator work, she attended several European grands prix. In 2020, she will continue working with Williams at tracks and at the factory, and she will increase her simulator programme to help with the team’s development.

She said: “The time spent in the simulator has been invaluable and I have enjoyed every moment, immersing myself within the team.”

Ferrari new boy Leclerc upstaged team-mateVettel in 2019,but says there’s more to learn from him

Red Bull driver follows Ferrari’s Leclerc in signing long-term deal

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start in Formula 1, which I have always been very grateful for.

“Over the years, I have grown closer and closer with the team and, besides the passion from everyone and the on-track performance, it is also really enjoyable to work with such a great group of people.

“Honda coming onboard, and the progress we have made over the last 12 months, gives me even more motivation. I want to win with Red Bull and our goal is, of course, to fight for a world championship together.”

Verstappen is yet to mount a sustained title challenge with Red Bull and has previously indicated that he wanted to see the team start 2020 strongly in order for him to commit his future to it longer-term.

However, shortly in the aftermath of Charles Leclerc’s multi-year extension at Ferrari, Verstappen has now officially taken himself off the market for F1’s switch to new regulations in 2021.

Symonds admits F1 got 2019 rules wrong Formula 1 technical boss Pat Symonds has admitted the rush to make aerodynamic rule changes to boost overtaking for 2019 were in hindsight the wrong thing to do.

Front wing design rules were tweaked for last season in a bid to make it easier for cars to follow each other. This idea used some of the concepts produced by early analysis in the work on the 2021 rules, and it was hoped that the revisions would provide insight into the possible success of the future regulations.

But the 2019 cars proved to be no better at running closely than their predecessors and Symonds – F1’s chief technical officer – says the way last year’s rule change turned out was far from ideal.

When asked if there had been lessons learned from the 2019 aero rules, Symonds, who was speaking on-stage at Autosport

International,said: “In shaping these ’21 regs, probably not as much as I would have hoped for.

“They were done in a bit of a hurry. And, you know, with the benefit of hindsight, I wouldn’t have done them. In terms of what they did to the wake of the car, relative to what we’ve done for 2021, it is miniscule. And, in fact, we had never run exactly the sort of configuration that the rules came up with.

“We’d done a lot of research by that time [when the 2019 rules were issued] in mid-’18 and we were starting to understand critical areas, but we hadn’t run the configuration we had to actually get some rules out for. So I think we could have done that whole exercise a bit better.”

Despite the overtaking difficulties last year, F1 had a series of good races – something Symonds predicts will continue for 2020.

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‘How Britcar has grown in popularity Endurance series insight, p2 Photos: Creventic, Jakob Ebrey, BMW Motorsport

BTCC racer Butcher unable to take start

Race was stopped just over seven hours in, due to rain

BLACK FALCON MERCEDES WINS RAIN-AFFECTED DUBAI 24 HOURS

Race shortened to just seven hours and also overshadowed by nasty pit incident

By Stephen Lickorish British racer Ben Barker was among the Black Falcon Mercedes crew that took victory in the Dubai 24 Hours last weekend, as the race was shortened to just a seven-hour contest due to heavy rain and was marred by a nasty pitlane incident.

The race did not run to its full duration for the first time in its 15-year history as heavy rain swept across the circuit and left large amounts of standing water.

Officials attempted to get the race back under way but continued rainfall overnight prevented it from restarting

and it was eventually called off at 0700hrs on Saturday morning, eight hours before it was due to be completed.

As it was leading at the time of the flag, Black Falcon took its fifth event win courtesy of Barker, Khaled Al Qubaisi, Hubert Haupt, Manuel Metzger and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

“Conditions were extremely difficult, there were puddles everywhere,” said Al Qubaisi, who was driving at the time of the stoppage. “It is a pity we can’t continue, but there is no doubt that stopping the race is the right decision. Safety comes first.”

Two Audis completed the podium,

thanks to the Car Collection Motorsport entry of Rik Breukers, Christopher Haase, Mike Ortmann, Dimitri Parhofer and Markus Winkelhock, along with WRT’s Mohamed Al Saud, Michael Vergers, Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Mies and Breukers.

Other British class winners included the Dragon Racing Lamborghini Super Trofeo machine in the GTX division, which was driven by Phil Keen, Adam Balon, Glynn Geddie and James Geddie, while Ollie Hancock was part of the Porsche 991 Cup-winning crew.

Ex-British Touring Car racer Vincent Radermecker also triumphed in the

TCE class at the wheel of an Audi.

The rain was not the only talking point of the race, however. An incident in the pits earlier in the race also overshadowed the contest as a team member working on Hancock’s MRS Porsche was pushed out of the way in the congested pitlane by a Barwell mechanic. That sent him into the path of the Porsche, which had just been released, and he hit the rear of the car.

He was taken to the circuit’s medical centre but escaped serious injury, while the #77 Barwell Lamborghini Huracan was handed a four-minute penalty because of the incident.

raced in Euroformula Open and finished second in Asian F3 last year… Alex Lynn has returned to the Jaguar Formula E team with which he contested seven races in the 2018-19 season to serve as the squad’s reserve and test driver.

Jaguar will need a replacement driver for this season’s Sanya FE round as James Calado will miss the event to race for Ferrari in the clashing World Endurance Championship race at Sebring. But it is unclear if Lynn will automatically replace Calado due to

his own WEC GTE commitments with Aston Martin… Former Audi LMP1 racer Oliver Jarvis will rejoin the factory M-Sport Bentley squad as part of a major reshuffle of the British manufacturer’s driver line-up.

Jarvis, who races for Mazda in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, has been re-signed by Bentley for a full programme in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, three years after he was part of its Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup line-up. Steven Kane, who has been part of Bentley’s set-up since the beginning of the GT3

One driver who did not get to compete in the shortened Dubai 24 Hours was British Touring Car Championship race winner Rory Butcher after his flight was diverted to avoid airstrikes over Iraq.

Butcher, who last contested the event in 2016, was due to share the #429 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 with team owner Nathan Freke, Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and William Paul.

But the Iranian-launched air strikes fired at US military bases in Iraq, in response to the US drone killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, prompted Butcher’s flight to be redirected to Istanbul.

Matters were compounded when his connecting flight to Dubai the following morning was delayed by a technical fault on the runway, causing Butcher and Paul to miss the entirety of free practice.

Having set no timed laps before qualifying, both Butcher and Paul were forced to miss the race and return home.

“It was all going smoothly until we got to 20 minutes from the Iraqi border,” Butcher said. “It was the middle of the night, and the captain came across the radio to say, ‘You may have noticed that we’ve done a U-turn, we’re going to be landing in Istanbul and then update you’.

“It was quite concerning but BA [British Airways] did the right thing.”

Iran airstrikes delayed Butcher

OUICK LAPS THE FASTEST NEWS ROUND-UP Honda and Red Bull Formula 1 junior Yuki Tsunoda will step up to Formula 2 with Carlin in 2020. It is understood Tsunoda impressed his bosses at both Honda and Red Bull during his rookie campaign in FIA Formula 3, his first year of car racing outside Japan. The Japanese driver finished ninth in the championship with Jenzer Motorsport, scoring a maiden victory at Monza and two other podiums over the course of the season…

Ferrari Driver Academy’s Enzo Fittipaldi,

grandson of double Formula 1 champion Emerson, and 2019 Red Bull junior Jack Doohan have joined HWA alongside Jake Hughes in FIA Formula 3. HWA initiated its first customer programme and junior single-seater foray in FIA F3 last year, with Hughes taking seventh in the drivers’ standings as the team finished fifth in the teams’ points. Hughes, 25, will again head the line-up alongside Fittipaldi – who finished runner-up in the new Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Racing in 2019 – and Doohan, who

Carrera Cup ace Harper joins BMW Junior Team Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Dan Harper has been signed to BMW’s new Junior Team for the next two years.

The teenager dominated this year’s Porsche championship in his second season as the Porsche GB Junior and was due to take part in the manufacturer’s global Junior shootout to receive a drive in the Porsche Supercup. But Harper dropped out of this at short notice after being approached by BMW. He will make his international racing debut this season by competing in the Nurburgring-based VLN category and will be racing alongside fellow Junior Team members BRDC British F3 driver Neil Verhagen and TCR Germany champion Max Hesse.

“I feel honoured to be allowed to be part of this exciting programme and become part of the new BMW Junior Team,” said Harper. “I am really looking forward to the next two years and hope to be able to build on the successful period that I have enjoyed in recent years.

programme in 2013, has been released by the marque, while Andy Soucek is no longer a factory driver... Formula 2 racer Tatiana Calderon has secured a switch to Super Formula, and will become the first female driver to compete in the Japanese series. She will drive for the Honda-powered Drago Corse squad, which is returning to the grid this season after a brief stint in the championship between 2014-16. Red Bull Formula 1 junior Juri Vips’ drive in the series has also been confirmed.

FORD REFUGEES TINCKNELL AND WESTBROOK JOIN ASTON FOR LE MANS

Harper is part of relaunched team “For a manufacturer like BMW to approach me to be part of a project like this is very special and I can’t thank them enough for the opportunity. I’m excited to work alongside everyone at BMW and my fellow Junior Team members Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen.

“The fact that Max, Neil and I will be working together as a team is not standard for us as racing drivers, but we have already got to know each other and get on really well. I think that we will have a lot of fun and will hopefully be a very strong BMW Junior Team.”

Ford refugees Harry Tincknell and Richard Westbrook will fill the vacant seats in Aston Martin Racing’s 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours GTE Pro line-up.

The pair have been snapped up by the British manufacturer for the 2019-20 World Endurance Championship finale on June 13-14 after the end of the Ford GT programme last year.

Tincknell, who was part of the Multimatic-run Ford WEC squad from 2016-2019, will drive the #97 Vantage GTE alongside Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin.

Westbrook, who raced a Ganassi Ford GT in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and at Le Mans in 2016-2019, will share the #95 Vantage GTE with Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.

The pair replace Darren Turner and Jonny Adam, who respectively

drove in the #95 and #97 cars at Le Mans in 2018 and ’19.

AMR team principal John Gaw said that Aston had the “pick of the bunch” of available GTE Pro drivers after the end of the Ford programme and BMW’s withdrawal from the WEC. “We wanted drivers with good GTE experience who would fit in with the

Westbrook (l) and Tincknell move

team,” he said. “We sat down with our existing drivers and asked them who they wanted, because the chemistry in the team is important.

“It helped that Richard and Harry are British, but that wasn’t fundamental in the decision.”

Mazda IMSA driver Tincknell, who is close friends with Lynn, said: “To be honest I was quite flattered when I got the call.

“I was second in class with Ford at Le Mans in 2017 and would very much like to win it, especially because I don’t think anyone else has won both LMP2 [which Tincknell did in ’14] and GTE Pro.” Westbrook described signing for Aston as “a proud moment for a Brit”.

“It’s a good time to be driving for Aston, because it will be the third Le Mans for the new Vantage and the car has shown itself to be competitive on all tracks in the WEC so far this season,” he added.

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RACING NEWS BTCC NEWS SPECIAL

CHILTON TO JOIN FORCES Regular race winner signs to be part of ambitious team’s three-car British Touring Car assault for 2020

By Matt James Fourteen-time race winner Tom Chilton will partner Josh Cook at the BTC Racing British Touring Car Championship team in 2020 at the controls of a latest-specification Honda Civic Type R FK8.

Chilton, who began his BTCC career when he was 17 years old in 2002, spent 10 seasons in the BTCC and drove for teams including Barwell Motorsport, Arena International, Triple Eight Race Engineering and Team Dynamics. He then drove in the World Touring Car Championship between 2012 and 2017, but made his return to the BTCC in a twin campaign 2017, driving for the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall squad.

Since then, he has focused solely on the UK’s tin-top series.

The 34-year-old switched to Motorbase Performance in 2018 and won two races with the Ford Focus team during his twoyear spell. He was third in the championship in his first season with the Kent-based team, before finishing 10th in 2019. He will join Cook and other new signing Michael Crees (see sidebar) at Brackley-based BTC Racing.

Cook finished fourth in the

Winners Chilton and Cook will be BTC team-mates

championship standings in 2019 with three race victories. BTC Racing, which also fielded Chris Smiley, was in its maiden season with the FK8-spec Civic.

Chilton said: “The team did a sterling job last year. To have ended the season fourth overall and as Independent runners-up in their first season running the FK8 chassis was an outstanding achievement. I have a strong history with Honda [as a former Arena International and Team Dynamics driver].

“Josh [Cook] is a great driver, and I like having good teammates to push me. I’d like to think that with my years of experience I can bring something new to the team and help to push them on at the sharp end of the grid.

BTC Racing is a relatively young team, but their attitude and performance caught my eye last year.”

Joint team principal Bert Taylor, who owns the operation alongside racer and businessman Steve Dudman, said: “Personally I couldn’t be happier to have captured Tom. You only have to look back over his racing career to see what a true talent he is. Tom’s signing is another part of our plan to push forward and challenge for the BTCC title in 2020.”

Osborne to partner Hill in AmDTuning Honda Second-year British Touring Car Championship racer Sam Osborne has completed the AmD Tuning line-up for the 2020 season in an FK2-spec Honda Civic Type R. He will line up alongside Jake Hill in the Japanese cars, which the West Thurrock operation took to third place in the teams’ contest last season when Independents’ Trophy winner Rory Butcher, Sam Tordoff and Mike Bushell handled the machines.

Osborne graduated from the Mini Challenge and the Renault UK Clio Cup to join the BTCC with new team Excelr8 Motorsport in 2019 in an ageing front-wheel-drive MG6. He scored a best finish of 14th place at Snetterton in the reversed-grid race.

The Worksop-based racer said: “To regularly challenge for points finishes is the first

objective and if I could then make a bid for the Jack Sears Trophy [open to drivers who have yet to finish on the BTCC podium] then it would be fantastic.”

AmDTuning will be entering its second season with the FK2 Honda Civic Type R. Butcher’s success in the Independents’ Trophy last season was backed up by his victory in the Jack Sears Trophy.

Dave Newsham also claimed the Jack Sears Trophy for AmDTuning in a Ford Focus in 2014.

Hollamby said: “With a year of experience behind him, Sam’s goal now has to be to make the step forwards to challenge for points on a regular basis. The Jack Sears Trophy is a realistic goal, and it would be great if he could help us challenge for the title for a third time.”

Osborne (inset, r) will join Hollamby’s AmD team with Hill (inset,

Morgan and Rowbottom back for more in revamped Ciceley Mercedes-Benz A-Class cars

Ciceley’s Mercs, Rowbottom here leading Morgan, will return

Ciceley Motorsport will field an unchanged line-up of Adam Morgan and Daniel Rowbottom in the 2020 British Touring Car Championship in a brace of reworked Mercedes-Benz A-Class machines.

Morgan, a seven-time race winner in the BTCC, has been with his family-run squad

since 2013 and took his maiden victory in the series one year later at Brands Hatch.

The 31-year-old scored four podiums last season on his way to 12th in the standings, while series newcomer Rowbottom was 27th in the table with four points-scoring outings.

Rowbottom said that the

team was busy undergoing an extensive rebuild of the cars over the winter period ahead of the fresh campaign, which kicks off at Donington Park on March 28-29.

Former Renault UK Clio Cup racer Rowbottom said: “Last year was a tough one for us as I was getting to grips with the

championship and there was a lot to learn for me personally.

“Ciceley is a team I feel very comfortable with and Adam is a great team-mate to have.

We worked well together and we identified areas where we can improve the car over the closed-season, so there will be no rest for the team.”

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WITH BTC HONDA

Crees lands a “dream drive” Photos: Jakob Ebrey, LAT

BTC finished fourth in last year’s battle

2020 BTCC GRID SO FAR TEAM

CAR

DRIVER

TEAM

CAR

DRIVER

WSR WSR WSR Team Dynamics Team Dynamics AmDTuning.com AmDTuning.com BTC Racing BTC Racing BTC Racing Power Maxed Racing Power Maxed Racing Motorbase Performance Motorbase Performance Motorbase Performance

BMW 330i M Sport BMW 330i M Sport BMW 330i M Sport Honda Civic Type R FK8 Honda Civic Type R FK8 Honda Civic Type R FK2 Honda Civic Type R FK2 Honda Civic Type R FK8 Honda Civic Type R FK8 Honda Civic Type R FK8 Vauxhall Astra Vauxhall Astra Ford Focus RS Ford Focus RS Ford Focus RS

Colin Turkington Andrew Jordan Tom Oliphant Matt Neal Dan Cammish Jake Hill Sam Osborne Josh Cook Tom Chilton Michael Crees TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Speedworks Motorsport Ciceley Motorsport Ciceley Motorsport Trade Price Cars Racing Trade Price Cars Racing Team Parker Racing Laser Tools Racing Laser Tools Racing Team Hard Team Hard Team Hard Team Hard Simpson Racing Excelr8 Motorsport Excelr8 Motorsport

Toyota Corolla Mercedes-Benz A-Class Mercedes-Benz A-Class Audi S3 Saloon Audi S3 Saloon BMW 125i M Sport Infiniti Q50 Infiniti Q50 BMW 125i M Sport VW CC VW CC VW CC Honda Civic FK2 Hyundaii30FastbackNPerformance Hyundaii30FastbackNPerformance

Tom Ingram Adam Morgan Daniel Rowbottom Bobby Thompson James Gornall TBA Ash Sutton Aiden Moffat Carl Boardley Mike Bushell Jack Goff TBA TBA Senna Proctor TBA

Correct at time of going to press

The 2020 roster (right) is filling up quickly

GT champ Gornall to step into the BTCC Trade Price Cars Racing has signed reigning Mini Challenge champion James Gornall to contest the 2020 British Touring Car Championship season at the wheel of an Audi S3.

The 35-year-old, who won the British GT Championship in a Brookspeed-run Dodge Viper in 2008 sharing with Jon Barnes, will line up alongside Bobby Thompson in the AmDTuning-overseen TPC team.

The ex-Formula Renault racer returned to motorsport in 2014 after a budget-enforced sabbatical. He resumed racing in the BMW Compact Cup, where he raced alongside Trade Price Cars Racing team boss Dan Kirby. Bedfordbased Gornall switched to the Mini Challenge

last term, his first full season in a frontwheel-drive car. He took five wins and 13 podiums on his way to the overall title.

Gornall said: “When I decided to enter the Mini Challenge last season, it was with the aim of learning the skills required to move into British touring cars in the future.

“The [TPC] team has shown that it can fight for victories and that has to be my target in 2020; to fight for silverware and to challenge for both the Independents’ and the Jack Sears Trophy [fought out between drivers who have not had a BTCC podium at the start of the season].”

Kirby says that he is fully aware of Gornall’s ability after having raced alongside him, and was

Michael Crees will race with BTC Racing in the British Touring Car Championship this year, completing the squad’s three-car line-up for 2020.

Crees, 36, graduated to the BTCC last season at the wheel of a Team Hard VW CC and scored a best finish of ninth place at Silverstone in September. He placed 26th in the drivers’ standings.

Crees (below) said: “I couldn’t believe I was even on the BTCC grid last year. My goal all along was to finish the year as the top rookie, and I achieved that. Getting 12th in my first ever BTCC race [at Brands Hatch in April] was incredible, and then following up with a ninth place at Silverstone was really special.

“I’ve been working non-stop to secure a strong budget. A week ago it didn’t look like I’d even have a drive. To go from no seat to signing for a top team in only my fourth season of racing is amazing.”

Joint team principal Bert Taylor said: “It’s a great opportunity to give a rookie driver the chance to come and learn his a top-flight t car. Althoug relatively new the grid, he b great energy the team and willingness t improve.”

Proctor to lead the line in new Hyundai

Gornall: high ambitions pleased to get his 2020 line-up finalised early.

“As a newcomer to the series, James is a driver who fans might not be too familiar with,” said Kirby. “They will soon see what James can do when the season gets under way as you don’t become a multiple British champion in a range of disciplines without being quick.”

Race winner Senna Proctor is the first signing for the new Excelr8 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance for the 2020 British Touring Car Championship.

Proctor will be entering his fourth season in the BTCC. He won in a frontwheel-drive Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra in a wet-but-drying race at Brands Hatch’s opening meeting in 2018.

He went on to finish in 12th spot in the standings that season, before a switch to the rear-wheel-drive BMR Racing Subaru Levorg in 2019. He took three top-10 finishes last term and placed 20th in the drivers’ competition.

Proctor, 21, is the son of former BTCC racer Mark.

He said: “With my past experience of front-wheel drive, we can grow together and make [success] become

Proctor (inset) hopes that his experience can help refine the new Hyundai i30 a reality over the next few seasons. But it’s one step at a time and we are under no illusion that there will be a lot of hard work ahead for 2020. “[My target for the season] will be as many top-10 finishes and possibly podiums to get the ball rolling.”

The Excelr8 operation also runs the Mini Challenge UK, which will become part of

the BTCC support bill this season. The team joined the BTCC in 2019 with the olderspecification MG6 GT cars, which were driven by Rob Smith and Sam Osborne.

The squad was 19th in the teams’ contest.

Excelr8 announced at the start of November last year that it would build up the new Hyundai chassis for 2020, and it will mark the first time the manufacturer

has been represented on the modern BTCC grid. It will field two of the cars in the competition.

The first of the new cars is expected to be completed within the next few weeks before an intense preseason test programme gets under way to prepare the new machines for the opening rounds of the BTCC at Donington Park on March 28-29.

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RACING NEWS Photos: Gary Hawkins, Jakob Ebrey

IN BRIEF BWRDC awards

The British Women Racing Drivers’ Club announced the winners of its Gold Star awards at the Autosport International show. The senior Gold Star was won by rally co-driver Sasha Heriot and the junior Gold Star, for drivers aged under 25, was given to Scottish karter Chloe Grant. Heriot tackled numerous clublevel rallies last year, while Grant was the ESKC Junior Club champion and won the Ben Bhraggie Shield for the best female driver of the year.

Ward to Formula Ford Brabham made its race debut in Britcar last year

CUSTOMER BRABHAM TO RACE IN BRITCAR David Brabham (centre) with drivers Bailey (l) andWylie

First full campaign for new BT62 machine with champions Wylie and Bailey at the wheel

By James Newbold The Brabham BT62 will contest its first full-season of racing in the Britcar Endurance Championship in 2020, with champion Paul Bailey joined by 2014 British GT4 title-winner Ross Wylie.

It is the first customer BT62 sold by the revamped Brabham marque, which has targeted racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours in the near future.

“It’s incredibly significant for the business,” sporting director David Brabham told Motorsport News. “When we launched, we had racing ambitions, and we had ambitions around a customer racing programme, so it’s great to see all that come to fruition now.”

Brabham and Will Powell, who heads the Motus One operation behind Brabham Motorsport, drove a works-entered BT62 to victory in its first race outing at

Britcar’s Brands Hatch ‘Into the Night’ event in November – despite running a 60% throttle setting – which Brabham said “inspired a lot of people to start talking to us”.

Bailey’s example, announced at Autosport International on Thursday, will be run by SB Race Engineering with support from Brabham Motorsport and come equipped with an ECU to limit power output in line with series requirements.

Avid supercar collector Bailey told MN that the 5.4-litre V8-powered BT62 was “the fastest car I’ve ever driven from any manufacturer of any description”.

“The final decision was an easy one,” said Bailey, who won last year’s title in a secondaryclass Ferrari 488 Challenge with Andy Schulz. “I’ve ended up with what I believe to be the best value car you can buy today to go out and win a race.

“I’ve won Britcar before, I’ve won GT Cup before and I wanted to be back on [outright] pole, which is extra special. With the Brabham there’s no reason why I can’t be on pole for every race!”

Scotsman Wylie, the Britcar Endurance champion in 2017, has been involved with the BT62 test programme as a development driver and added that the car was “on another level” to the GT3 and GTC-spec cars he has previously raced.

Britcar’s non-championship support races at April Spa WEC round already receive 40 entries A total of 40 entries have already been received for Britcar’s supporting round to the World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps this year.

The two 50-minute races, which are open to any car that

complies with Britcar regulations, take place on April 23-25 but entries have already almost reached capacity.

The non-championship round is open to competitors in the newfor-2020 Britcar Trophy as well as

Revolution prototype machinery.

“I think for the brand to go up another level and be on the world stage is tendrement,” said managing director of Britcar, Claire Hedley.

“We’ve got 40 entries already.

Paul Bailey [reigning Britcar champion] is going to come with his Brabham BT62.

“They [WEC] sent us a formula and I think it’s looking about 48 [spaces] but I want to clarify with them first. I’m hoping with

the fact it’s three months before British GT is at Spa, quite a few of the guys are coming just to test. It’s a non-championship round, it’s going to be a really social weekend but very competitive as well.”

GT4 Pro-Am champions Plowman and Fletcher to race JRM’s GT3 Bentley

MorrisandParfitttookonevictoryinJRMBentleylastseason

British GT4 Pro-Am champions Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher will graduate to the premier GT3 class this year in a Bentley Continental run by race-winning squad JRM. It will be their third season together as a pairing, having followed their 2018 GT4 Pro-Am near-miss with the title and three class wins last year in a Beechdean Aston Martin, scoring points in every race.

Fletcher, who won Strictly Come Dancing last year, admits

that he was “keen to exploit” his existing relationship with Aston but was impressed by his first test with the Bentley in wet conditions at Silverstone.

“I’m always confident in what we offer as a package with me and Martin, and last year our results were showing that,” he said. “We set our sights quite firmly at the top, you want to win races and be on the podium.

I’ll let Martin set the pace and try to be as close to that as I can.”

Fletcher added the Bentley

was “a complete joy, very receptive to my inputs” in the wet, which gave him confidence in his decision.

“You just go with your gut on a lot of things and in my gut it felt like the right decision,” he said.

In its first full season since 2013, JRM – which powered Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr to the 2011 FIA GT1 title – won the opening British GT race of last season at Oulton Park with Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt Jr, but also endured misfortune.

Race winner Jewiss stays with Douglas Motorsport for his second crack at BRDC British F3 BRDC British F3 race winner Kiern Jewiss will remain with the Douglas Motorsport squad in the category this season.

Jewiss took the British Formula 4 title with Double R in 2018, but struggled to replicate that form against fellow F4 graduates last year.

While Johnathan Hoggard was narrowly defeated in the title

race by Clement Novalak, Jewiss ended up fourth in the standings after taking just one win.

He grew much stronger in the second half of the season and will be looking to keep that momentum into 2020.

“I have a great relationship with the whole team and together we got the car into a great place towards the latter

part of last season,” said Jewiss.

“The challenge this time round is to pick up where we left off and start the season strong.

“As always in BRDC British F3, the competition is going to be incredibly tough, and there’s a few new changes to the car, but I’m as motivated as ever to have the best year possible.”

Douglas boss Wayne Douglas

added: “Ever since we first ran him in a Ginetta Junior, it’s been clear the immense talent Kiern possesses and he showcased it again last year.” l Race winner Benjamin Pedersen will move to Double R for his second season in the category this year. The DanishAmerican driver was 14th in the standings in 2019 with Douglas.

Jewiss was 2018 F4 champion

B-M Racing will run Junior Saloon graduate Tom Ward in a packed programme of Formula Ford 1600 races for his debut season in single-seaters.

Ward will contest full campaigns in both the National and Northern championships as well as taking in the end-of-season Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy events.

“I worked out it’s about 52 race starts throughout the year,” said Ward, who is not 16 until next month and will race a newly-built Medina Sport chassis.

Plimmer’s return

Fun Cup racer Neil Plimmer will return to Formula Ford 1600 this season, racing a Van Diemen RF90 he last drove 25 years ago. “I have seen races when I have been out with Fun Cup and thought I might fancy trying that again,” he explained. A meeting with Dave Morgan then brought the possible return to fruition. “I spoke to Dave after noticing my Fun Cup races at Oulton and Anglesey were on the same meetings as Northern FF1600, then he mentioned he still had the RF90 I raced with him and the deal was done,” Plimmer added.

Timed pitstops

Three of the Classic Sports Car Club’s existing series will adopt timed pitstops for the first time in 2020. Drivers contesting the Classic K series for pre-1966 cars with FIA paperwork, Modern Classics and the New Millennium series will be able to have more leisurely driver changes following votes among competitors in each of the club’s categories. The newfor-2020 Slicks Series has also adopted the regulation.

Brabham outfit Motus One to race in Cayman series The Motus One outfit behind Brabham Motorsport is planning to enter two cars in the new Porsche Sprint Challenge GB this year, with managing director Will Powell its first confirmed driver.

Martin Short is Motus One’s team principal and will run the cars from the Rollcentre Racing workshop in St Ives, Cambridge, but is unlikely to drive himself.

Speaking to Motorsport News at the Autosport International show, Powell said Motus One would also enter the same car in Britcar, with drivers yet to be announced.

“The GT4 Porsche being a new series, nobody has got any more advantage than anybody else,” he said. “There are very few things you can change on the car so it’s a nice place for us to go.”

Short added: “It takes me back to where I started in Rovers and one-make cars like that. There’s very small things that make a difference, and that’s how you’re really going to find the drivers you want to see progress through the ranks to the top.” l Another driver tackling the new Porsche series is ex-Renault UK Clio Cup and historics racer Ambrogio Perfetti. He will drive for the In2Racing squad.

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RACING NEWS Photos: Gary Hawkins, Steve Jones, Jakob Ebrey

Club has invested in livestreaming of event

BRSCC TARGETS BUMPER 2020 FESTIVAL TURNOUT

Brands Hatch event boosted by Historic and Classic championship finales joining the bill

By Stephen Lickorish The British Racing and Sports Car Club is targeting the largest gathering of Formula Ford 1600 machinery of the season at this year’s Formula Ford Festival as the event will also play host to two championship finales.

Alongside the regular knockout Festival contest, the final rounds of the Historic Sports Car Club’s Historic and Classic Formula Ford championships are also set to take place at Brands Hatch over the October 24-25 weekend.

This is part of the continued push from the BRSCC to raise the profile of the event ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2021. It was

fully livestreamed online for the first time last year and that will again be the case this season.

“We’re really excited about it,” said BRSCC chairman Peter Daly.

“We want the Festival to be the largest gathering of Formula Ford cars in 2020 and we expect there to be in excess of 125 cars.

“It will be livestreamed again and the feedback from last year was super. Lots of people had relatives abroad who were watching the races and it gave great value.”

Another new aspect of the Festival for 2019 was the highestplaced teenager receiving a prize place on British Formula 4’s scholarship day – where the 2019 winner received £35,000

worth of support for the following F4 season. Daly confirmed that will be in place again this year, along with a new similar prize being introduced for the best driver under the age of 25 in the final National FF1600 championship standings. l The BRSCC’s Northern FF1600 series will be renamed the Northern and Super Classic championship this year to reflect the fact Kent-engined cars of all ages can compete in the category.

The Super Classic name, which was used in the 1990s, has been revived to cover four different classes for cars dating from the birth of Formula Ford in 1967 up to 1998. The name will also be used for National series classes.

Whitelegg(l)wasLegendsrunner-uptoJohnMickelin2018

OSS organisers axe series amid struggles

HSCCHistoricandClassiccategorieswillfeatureattheFestival

Motorsport banner with added technical support from Cresta Racing.

“I sold everything to Nick [Bridgeman] at the end of the 2018 season and that was the end, but I did three races in Scottish Legends early in 2019 and I was bang on the pace even though I hadn’t driven at Knockhill since I was a novice,” he said.

“That planted the seed again, I really missed being part of the National Championship last season so now I’m back – with the blessing of my wife!

I’ve bought another car which is being built and I’ll run under the Bridgeman banner, plus we’ll have the help and support of Colin Smart from Cresta Racing who will oversee the engineering as he did for WTBS. “I’ve got unfinished business in Legends, it’s a fantastic championship and the racing looked as good as ever last year with a lot of drivers really raising their game. I’ve got to come back to try and win it, so that’s what we’re aiming to do.”

MGCC to visit the Silverstone International circuit for the first time The MG Car Club will race on the Silverstone International circuit for the first time this year as part of its newlyunveiled 2020 calendar.

The International track meeting on March 28 this year kicks off an expanded six-round MGCC schedule. The club’s MGLive showpiece Silverstone GP event – cancelled last year

due to resurfacing – returns while, in another first for the MGCC, its Snetterton 300 circuit meeting becomes a two-day event.

MGCC also has a new race competitions secretary this year, as Mark Baulch has replaced John Hutchison who had been in the role since 2014. Baulch has been

MGCC’s awards coordinator for the last four years.

“We wanted an opportunity to try something a little bit different,” Baulch said about the International circuit visit, “and who wouldn’t want to sit on the start grid that the Formula 1 boys sit on? It’s been very well received by our championships.”

Volkswagen Racing Cup frontrunners Josh Coggan and Mark Wakefield have paired up to form a new team in the series this year.

JM Racing will run up to four VW Golf Mk7s using the bodykit developed by Coggan. The first two cars are ready to go, with another two in build.

Championship regular Mark Steel was revealed as the team’s first signing for 2020 at last weekend’s Autosport International. Coggan, who impressed in a one-off outing in the Touring Car Trophy at the end of last year, and Wakefield are yet to commit to driving themselves.

Last year’s championship runnerup Wakefield said: “Racing the car is the easy bit. All the off-track stuff that people don’t see is the hard bit and I think you get to that point in life where you’ve got choose what you want to do.

“I want to be able to help people, develop people and push them forward.”

Further confirmed entries on the VW Cup grid are reigning Junior Saloon Car champion Scott McIntyre and GT Cup class winner Steven Chandler. The two teenagers will be run by Team Hard, which plans to field four cars on its return to the series after a year’s absence.

Series averaged 10 cars

Legends frontrunner Whitelegg to return and targets his first title Legends frontrunner Steve Whitelegg will return to the championship this season after taking a break from the category in 2019 and has “unfinished business” as he aims for his first title.

The multiple race winner, who finished third and second in the standings in 2017 and ’18 respectively, sold his own family-run team WTBS Motorsport to fellow competitor Nick Bridgeman prior to last season.

Whitelegg will now return under the Bridgeman

VW Cup drivers form their own JM Racing squad

MGcategorieswillraceonadifferentconfigurationthisyear

OSS Championship organisers have decided not to continue with the series this year after it struggled for entries in 2019.

The category, which was open to a wide range of prototype machinery, first started in 2009 and regularly attracted grids in the 30s as recently as 2017 but this dropped to an average of just 10 cars per round last season.

Organisers say the lack of interest and what they claim is a lack of support from organising club the British Racing and Sports Car Club, has led to the decision to cancel the championship.

In a statement, they said: “It’s with great regret that after 11 years of a great championship we have decided to bring OSS to an end. Lack of interest from competitors and our organising club being the main reasons.”

However, the BRSCC denies this and says it was working on a plan to team the category up with a British Automobile Racing Club class for 2020.

“We were disappointed with OSS’s statement after the work the BRSCC, BARC and Motorsport UK had put in,” said BRSCC chairman Peter Daly. “We are now looking at putting together a series to accommodate the competitors.”

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‘McCann will tackle forests

HISTORICS DOWN THE PUB CHATEAU IMPNEY EVENT AXED FOR THE FUTURE CHRIS SNOWDON

Avenger man to expand horizons, below

Racer and preparer Age: 63 Lives: Emsworth

Droitwich hillclimb cancelled for 2020 and question marks remain

Photos: Paul Lawrence

IN BRIEF Charity day ready

The annual Stoke Row and Nuffield Motorsport Day will be held on Sunday July 19 this year. Over a decade of shows, the event near Reading has raised around £30,000 for local charities and includes a wide array of competition cars on show as well as a tour for classic cars. The event is promoted by historic preparer and racer Iain Rowley.

Lees F2s to Pau

Single-seater racers from the Historic Sports Car Club’s Historic Formula 2 Series and new Geoff Lees Trophy for 1980s single-seaters will have the chance to race on the magnificent Pau street circuit at the end of May. During the Grand Prix de Pau Historique (May 30-31), the up to twolitre grid will tackle a double-header on the famous street circuit.

Snowdon is a very busy man He’s always busy

“I’ve just spent three days with Martin Stretton instructing people how to slide historic cars around. We do that at Pembrey, and it gets you some in-car time even though you’re not driving.”

McCann’s adventure

He races and prepares cars “I love racing and it’s kind of why I do this. I can enjoy working on people’s cars and have them have fun. We’ve had quite a lot of success with the Sports 2000s and won the Enduros last year with a customer. I like the Pinto cars, they work well.”

Alfa is a favourite marque

“I’m lucky enough to drive Alfa Romeos as well, which is another weakness! Last year I was lucky enough to race in Julius Thurgood’s Classic Alfa Challenge with the twolitre Napolina GTV. We did four races, won three of them and came second in the other.”

He had a great race at Castle Combe

The hillclimb was popular crowd-puller

By Paul Lawrence Competitors and fans have been left disappointed and perplexed by the announcement that the 2020 Chateau Impney Hill Climb has been cancelled.

A vague statement from the event promoters and venue owners says that the sixth edition of the event, planned for the weekend of July 18-19, will not take place but has left

supporters of the event unclear about the future.

No further comment was available when Motorsport News contacted the venue.

The recreation of the 1960s hillclimb in the grounds of the Droitwich hotel established itself as a key event in the calendar with over 200 pre-’66 cars competing on a specially extended hill. Good crowds packed the venue right from the start in 2015 and the 2019

“It has been a good series and we’ll certainly carry on with it. I had a great dice at Castle Combe with Ted Pearson in October. It was fantastic and I just ran out of talent at the second to last corner. I wasn’t too displeased to spin and still finish only nine seconds behind. I did briefly get the lead! We always seem to have close racing at Castle Combe.”

He has a passion for the GTV6

“We’re running the Alfa GTV6 in the Gerry Marshall Trophy at the Members’ Meeting for Paul Clayson.

If we could get into the top 15 of the heat and get into the final, he’ll get a second race. It would be nice to get the chance to race at Goodwood again as it’s about six miles from the workshop. I just love to drive anything.

We’re building another GTV6 for a customer and that’s an ex-Jon Dooley touring car. I hope to get to drive that with Motor Racing Legends and I’d love to race a GTV6 at Spa.”

to deliver an event worthy of a recognisable award.

“We have achieved all the above and it is now time for us to bow out in style and focus on the exciting next chapter for Chateau Impney.

“We would like to thank all the partners, team and guests for their support over the years, as we couldn’t have done it without you, and we look forward to involving you in our future.”

Silver Fern Rally bosses field huge interest

Goodwood is his home track

“We reckon I’ve done about 200,000 miles around Goodwood. Back in the 1990s when we were doing the corporate stuff, I was instructing and doing passenger rides and that could be 100 laps a day. We were doing that up to four times a week. I suspect no-one has done more laps of Goodwood than me. One day we talked about doing it blindfolded!”

event won the Royal Automobile Club ‘event of the year’ award.

The statement said: “The 2019 Hillclimb will be the last of this series of motoring events at Chateau Impney.

Consequently, the 2020 event will unfortunately not be taking place. We set out to create memorable experiences which consistently exceeded expectations, to create an event that felt exclusive but was incredibly inclusive and

British competitors often head for the mammoth NZ rally

The promoters of the Silver Fern Rally in New Zealand reported a record level of interest from UK crews during Autosport International last weekend.

Peter Martin of the Ultimate Rally Group took 11 UK entries at the show and fielded many more enquiries about November’s seven-day gravel rally, which will cover 650 stage miles on the North Island.

“We’re aiming at a field of 70 cars and we need to get

FEATURE: HOW BRITCAR IS BUCKING THE TREND

the car was unveiled at the Autosport International show. It has been built up from a road car and finished in a Pepsi livery.

Wood is due to continue racing his Nissan Skyline in the same series and is currently building another Skyline for a customer.

“It is the ultimate Group A Touring Car,” said Wood of the fourwheel-drive Skyline.

Tiddlers allowed

The Classic Sports Car Club has added one-litre classes to both its Swinging 60s and Classic K race series. Previously the smallest engine division in each category was 1300cc and the extra class has been introduced to encourage cars like Minis and Austin Healey Sebring Sprites onto the grids.

Philliskirk’s back

Yorkshire rallying veteran Warren Philliskirk is planning a campaign in this year’s British Historic Rally Championship in his Ford Escort Mk1.

Philliskirk, who started rallying in the late 1970s, hopes to contest all eight rounds, including the Ulster Rally in August. That will be his first rally in Ireland in more than 40 years of competing.

Bigger Manx National The organisers of the Manx National Rally in May are encouraging historic crews to enter the extended event.

With more stages on Friday, May 15, the total route now covers 130 stage miles in 18 stages and takes in the town-centre stage at Castletown.

Northern Irish brothers Paul and Ryan Barrett are planning to field their Ford Escort Mk2s on the Isle of Man event.

Lee’s BMW attack

WOOD-BUILT PEPSI CAPRI TO APPEAR IN WHITE’S HANDS The latest Group 1 Ford Capri built by Ric Wood will be raced by Irishman Jonathan White this season.

White, more recently seen racing a Rover, will campaign the car in the Motor Racing Legends Historic Touring Car Challenge, which starts at the Donington Historic Festival in early May. “We’ve probably built 25 Capris now,” said Wood as

at least half of them from overseas,” said Martin. “This year we will be supplying stage route notes and a DVD eight weeks before the rally.”

The move to notes is aimed at encouraging UK crews to enter.

The rally will be based in Rotorua and will start on Sunday November 22 before finishing back there on Saturday November 28.

Overnight halts will be in Gisborne, Napier, Palmerston North and Ohakune.

Young Isle of Man rally driver Rory McCann will add to his forest experience this season after being invited back to drive the Hillman Avenger of Tim Tugwell. Now fitted with a two-litre engine, the car will move up to the C3 historic class after McCann showed mighty pace in a couple of outings in the 1600cc version last season. McCann will continue to run his Honda Civic on asphalt events at home, co-driven by his father Paul.

Aberdeen-based Ernie Lee is planning to field an E30 BMW M3 in gravel rallies this season after several years in a 325i. Lee, who came back to rallying after a gap of 40 years, did last November’s Roger Albert Clark Rally in the 325i and will now run the M3 on rounds of the Scottish and BTRDA championships.

The Capri will be shared in MRL

Lee will tackle gravel events

PAGE 27

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RALLY NEWS

The new Toyota WRC team was gathered

WRAPS COME OFF THE WRC CHALLENGERS FOR 2020 GLORY

World rally teams step up preparations as Monte Carlo opener approaches

Tanak opts for his lucky number eight

The M-Sport livery for the Fiesta is a throwback to previous generation

Defending manufacturers’champions Hyundai are ready to go with the i20

By David Evans

Cosworth. White cars have always been popular and with the increased support from Castrol that colour scheme was spot on. In general, the whole design has a nod to the early-to-mid ’90s. The patterns and fashions of the era are really prevalent at the moment, so I was interested to create something in that style whilst still being on-trend and relevant today.”

Team principal Richard Millener admitted the new livery worked for him. “This year Phil’s captured a sense of nostalgia in something totally modern and inventive. I have to say, it’s one of my favourites!

“It’s great to see our close relationship with Ford well represented, as well as the increased support from Castrol. Many of our existing partners are also proudly displayed, and the livery looks even better close up. I hope many of you will be able to get out into the forests and service parks to see it for yourselves.”

The 2020 World Rally Championship moved up a gear last week when the three factory teams unveiled their challengers for this season’s titles.

Toyota was the first to reveal their car, when Sebastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera pulled the covers from the Yaris WRC in front of an enthusiastic Japanese crowd at Tokyo’s Auto Salon show last week.

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team followed at Autosport International on Thursday, while Hyundai Motorsport confirmed its colours with the issue of a pre-season press pack on Monday.

Toyota team principal Tommi Makinen said he was pleased the Japanese firm’s 2020 season would start and end at home – with this year’s campaign concluding with Rally Japan in November.

“It’s great to be in Japan to launch our season with our new drivers,” said

Makinen. “We are really looking forward to the WRC returning to Japan this year, so it is nice to start the season here together with lots of Japanese car fans.

“On the outside, our car looks similar to before, and we are mostly keeping the same package that was strong in many different conditions last year. But we are always working to make some small improvements to make it even better, and we will go into this season with a lighter and more powerful car. I am confident that our talented new drivers will quickly feel comfortable and that we can aim high again this season.”

While Toyota’s Yaris WRC features only a small number of minor livery changes, the British-built M-Sport Fiesta takes the team back to the Nineties with a retro-style 1995-inspired design.

The man in charge of the new colour scheme, Phil Dixon, said: “My initial inspiration came from Francois Delecour’s 1995 Ford Escort RS

DAVID EVANS’S AUTOSPORT SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

Defending manufacturer champion team principal Andrea Adamo said last season’s success would be forgotten as they prepared for a new campaign.

The Italian said: “We had an extremely successful 2019, but the slate is wiped clean again as we prepare for 2020. Our aims for the coming season are clear: to fight for victory in each of the events on the calendar and to mount a challenge for the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles.

“We know the ferocity of the competition will remain intense, so we have to make sure our technical package is as strong as possible. We have arguably one of the strongest crew line-ups in WRC with Thierry [Neuville], Ott [Tanak], Dani [Sordo] and Sebastien [Loeb]. It is a reflection of Hyundai’s reputation in international motorsport that we are able to attract such a calibre of talent. I, for one, am tremendously focused on what the coming season will bring.”

For the first time in the history of the World Rally Championship, the series will begin without a driver running with number one on the doors.

Ott Tanak will retain the number eight for his Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. While the number one is reserved for the world champion, it remains the drivers’ choice if they want to take them.

Asked about his decision, Tanak said: “I’ve had the number eight for the last two years and I didn’t see any reason to change.”

Talking about the year ahead, the Estonian added: “I have had some time to settle into my new home at Hyundai Motorsport, and I have certainly received a warm welcome. It’s never easy to get up to speed when you change team, but I feel we are heading in a good direction.

The team has already demonstrated its capability of performing at the front of WRC by winning the manufacturers’ title. My first impressions of the car have been very positive, and I am convinced, together, we can compete for the titles this year.”

PAGE 23

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GROUP RALLYING EDITOR

‘Hansens want to find talent’ Rallycross team’s bid for glory, p28

YATES TARGETS SUCCESS WITH 2020 M-SPORTR5 ATTACK Briton lands a prime seat to enable him to battle for title glory in the WRC 2 division

By David Evans Rising British star Rhys Yates says his deal to drive an M-Sport Ford World Rally Team is the launchpad for his career.

The Chesterfield driver starts his second season in the World Rally Championship with the Cumbrian squad and is determined to use M-Sport’s wealth of experience to his advantage. His first outing in a factory-run Ford Fiesta R5 MkII comes in Monte Carlo next week.

“That rally,” Yates told MN, “Monte Carlo is so, so tricky.

I went there for the first time last year and I thought we’d done some good preparation; I’d got Denis [Giraudet, French co-driver] in the car and he’d done it 19 times before, but still there were surprises.

“M-Sport’s been competing at the highest level of world rallying since 1997, they’ve been world champion manufacturers three years in that time and they know pretty much everything there is to know about rallies like Monte Carlo. The chance to work with a team with that knowledge base is fantastic for me. This season has to be my launchpad.

“We were fourth [in WRC 2] in Monte last year and had some

really good stage times in our own Skoda, but this is the next level for me. I can’t wait to crack on.”

Yates drove the Fiesta R5 MkII for the first time at Blyton last week and will test in the French Alps this weekend ahead of the season-opener.

M-Sport team principal Richard Millener said he was looking forward to working with Yates on an extensive 2020 programme which is certain to include the events he contested last season (Sweden, Portugal, Wales and Germany) as well as further WRC outings – including longhaul action in Mexico or Japan.

“It’s great to welcome Rhys into the team,” said Millener.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops over the course of the year. He has the work ethic to go far and I know he and James [Morgan, co-driver] will put everything into their programme to ensure they realise their potential. Having gained good knowledge of a number of events last year, Rhys is ready to mount a challenge for the top results and we plan to help him achieve that goal.”

M-Sport will field a two-car team in WRC 2 this season, with FFSA-supported French driver Adrien Fourmaux running the sister Fiesta.

FFSA. MN understands Loubet’s maiden World Rally Car outing is likely to come aboard a Fiesta WRC – M-Sport supplies Fiesta R2s to the FFSA and is running Fourmaux’s WRC 2 programme in a Fiesta R5.

Yates thinks that M-Sport shot will be a launchpad in 2020

Loubet said: “It’s a new, very important and positive step for me.

I’m very satisfied and I’m proud to be wearing the colours of the French team again. I’ll have a lot of work to do this season and I hope that the support of the FFSA will help me to

keep on improving throughout the year. The federal coaching system that I already know pretty well after my three seasons in the FFSA colours will be very good for me from both a technical and sporting point of view.”

Latvala-Hanninen in Rally Sweden bid Jari-Matti Latvala has confirmed his Rally Sweden entry for next month – with fellow former factory Toyota driver Juho Hanninen alongside him.

The Finnish pair have competed together previously in Latvala’s own Toyota Celica GT-Four, but this will be the first time Hanninen has co-driven Latvala on a round of the World Rally Championship.

As previously outlined in MN, Latvala is chasing a programme of WRC rounds in a Toyota Yaris this season. He is confirmed for Sweden and Finland, but he is also looking to finance a further three events.

Talking about his choice of co-driver Latvala said: “Juho is really good for the co-driver. His pace notes are always perfect, but it’s also helping that he is a driver as well. He still has the kind of feeling from the driver and, when we were testing, this was always helping with the set-up work.”

Former European Rally champion Hanninen drove a factory Yaris WRC in Toyota’s return season in the WRC in 2017.

Latvala (right) has confirmed that he will return to the WRC with Rally Sweden entry

ROVANPERA SAD THAT LATVALA WILL BE MISSING OUT Kalle Rovanpera was two years old when Jari-Matti Latvala made his debut in the World Rally Championship – which is why Toyota’s teenage sensation is going to miss his countryman when it comes to next week’s Monte Carlo Rally.

Latvala will be missing the opening round of the WRC for

“Rovanpera w test a nation’s rally passion”

I

WRC 2 champion Loubet to jump up to a top-flight works drive with FFSA backing Last year’s WRC 2 title winner Pierre-Louis Loubet will step up to a World Rally Car this season.

The Frenchman, like countrymen Adrien Fourmaux and Yohan Rossel, will enjoy financial support from France’s governing body, the

DAVID EVANS

the first time since 2005 next week and, for the younger of the Finns, that’s a sad thing.

Latvala will drive a privately entered Yaris WRC on round two in Sweden.

Nineteen-year-old Rovanpera told MN: “It’s a bit sad for me that he is not going to be there for the full season. I really like him as a driver and

as a person. He’s one of the nicest guys I know and he’s really a proper driver. It’s sad he didn’t have so good a year in the past seasons because he is one of the fastest in the WRC. Rally is like this. I really hope he can get some rallies in the future. I know he wants to drive, so I really hope he can make this happen.”

s it just me or has anybody else noticed the huge sense of irony in Kalle Rovanpera’s words about his countryman Jari-Matti Latvala?

If you’ve come directly to the right hand side of these two pages without visiting any of the stories over there, I’ll paraphrase: the younger of the two Finns is sad to see next week’s WRC opener devoid of the older of the two Finns. But Latvala’s absence from the French Alps is partly due to Kalle’s arrival in a factory Yaris WRC. The Toyota Gazoo Racing team has been able to leave the blue cross on the Yaris’s rear windows. And just change the names next to it.

There’s no denying the irony, but is Rovanpera really to blame for the full-time loss of the series’ nicest chap? Actually, no. The 19-year-old was plugged into Toyota from the summer.

When I first wrote that story around Rally Italy time, Latvala was still very much in the frame for a seat. Or he was until he upended his Toyota on the second shot at Tula and went from first to 28th.

Rovanpera is, of course, absolute right. We will miss Jari-Matti in Monte. He’s a genuinely decent fella and a driver well capable of banter and chit-chat beyond ramp angles and ride heights. Providing, that is, the banter and chit-chat’s about somebody else’s ramp angles and ride heights!

Much as we’ll miss him, it’s impossible not to be excited about Rovanpera. This is the WRC’s very own Max Verstappen moment. We all watched, slack-jawed as an eight-year-old Kalle broke the internet with that mental YouTube footage of him sliding a Toyota Starlet across a frozen lake at full speed.

And we all waited for this very moment.

The last couple of years have been great, interesting, informative and rewarding for Harri’s boy in the terms of a maiden world title in the Rovanpera household (WRC 2 Pro), but it’s the here and now (or next week and Gap to be more accurate) that we’ve all had our eyes on.

Finland’s future prosperity in rallying, so close to a nation’s hearts, is about to be confirmed.

Us Brits love a Flying Finn, don’t we? That’s partly because, from the dawn of the World Rally Championship in 1973, our own round of the series – the RAC Rally, latterly known as Rally GB – was dominated so comprehensively by them. For two decades, the Finns won 16 times in Britain. Roger Clark bloodied the Finnish nose twice, but it wasn’t until Colin McRae and Richard Burns arrived that we managed some proper home rule of our own.

If, like me, you’re keen to find out more about the RAC/Rally GB, you need to get yourself a copy of The Great British Rally. Released to mark the 75th running of the event last year, authors Martin Holmes and Graham Robson have delivered an absolute must-read for rally fans. With stories stretching back all the way to the maiden 1932 event, every twist, turn and tale is covered from an event clearly close to the hearts of Holmes and Robson.

AGREE/DISAGREE? letters@motorsport-news.co.uk

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RALLY NEWS

DEVINE PREPARES TO FIGHT FOR SILVERWARE IN EUROPE Hyundai’s 2020-spec i20 R5 will be used by 25-year-old, starting with BRC opener next month

Photos: ERC Media, Kevin Money, Gerrard Wilson for Barbados Rally Club

By Jason Craig Callum Devine believes that he can “be in the mix” for silverware as he prepares to compete full-time in the European Rally Championship this year.

Devine will return to top-flight competition this season alongside co-driver Brian Hoy with the backing of Motorsport Ireland, its newly-created Rally Academy and Hyundai Motorsport in Germany.

The 25-year-old will compete in the 2020-spec Hyundai i20, and the priority for the County Londonderry driver is the ERC1 Junior element of the ERC with the overall winner receiving tens of thousands of euros in prize money.

Devine made an impressive R5 debut in the ERC last November, finishing third overall on his first visit to Rally Hungary.

“I am excited about the season

Devine can be ‘up at the front’ ahead,” he told Motorsport News.

“The past couple of weeks have been hectic – I haven’t had much time to think about the fact we are heading to the European Rally Championship – but I know it is going to be really good.

“I think we can be in the mix [in ERC1 Junior]. I think we can be up there at the front. We have a chance of doing well in the Hyundai, which is a car I feel comfortable with on Tarmac. If I can find a nice rhythm and a nice set-up for each rally then I know we can be fast each time.”

The ’20-spec i20 features fresh dampers for improved balance and

handling on Tarmac and gravel. Also new on the car is the steering system, while new pistons and liners for the engine push power to nearly 290bhp.

The priority for Devine before the opening round – the Azores Rally in March– is chalking up miles in the i20 R5 on gravel. As well as extensive testing, he is set to contest the opening round of the British Rally Championship next month in a bid to get further seat time.

“It makes sense to go to the Cambrian Rally,” he said. “We definitely need time on gravel to understand the car better, as 2017 was the last time I drove an R5 car on gravel at Wales Rally GB. The following season I did more as part of the Junior World Rally Championship but there has been nothing since.

“We gathered a lot of information about the i20 when we went to Hungary and we can carry that into this year.”

Billy Coleman Award winner made his ERC debut last season and took a podium on Rally Hungary

PANTON TO MAKE RALLYING RETURN AT CADWELL PARK AFTER HORROR SMASH

Rally Barbados driver last competed in the UK in 1997

Popular Blyton-based rallies forced to cancel Two of the East Midlands’ most popular single-venue rallies, the Jack Neal Memorial Rally and the Hall Trophy, have had to be cancelled after the owners of the Blyton Park venue significantly increased the hire cost.

Clerk of the course for the events Chris Woodcock explained that Blyton’s owners wanted £4500 per event more than in 2019, with fewer on-site facilities available, which ultimately made holding the rallies non-viable.

Both rallies are organised

by Clitheroe and District Motor Club and their traditional February and November dates made them lynchpins of several regional championships.

“It is a shame that [Blyton’s] new management has taken

this view, after over 10 years of building up the two events to be popular and well attended,” said Woodcock. “That said, we have to respect their decision.”

Blyton Park’s Alan Mugglestone stated that the increased fee was in line with the Lincolnshire venue’s other activities, like trackdays.

He reported that the previous owner had informed Clitheroe DMC in mid-2019 that November’s Hall Trophy would be the last. He also cited concerns over mud not being cleared from the service area post-event and service vans blocking access to the on-site kart track.

He said: “We would need competitors to show more responsibility towards Blyton Park’s regular customers [for the rallies to return].”

BRITCAR’S LONG ROAD TO SUCCESS

Five-time Rally Barbados winner Jeffrey Panton will rebound from his huge crash on last year’s event by contesting the Alan Healy Memorial Stages at Cadwell Park in February.

He will return to the UK for the first time since 1997 to rekindle his Barbados rivalry with Briton Rob Swann.

While fighting Swann on last June’s Barbados event, Panton rolled into trees on the outside of a corner and his car came to a rapid stop in an accident measuring 11g.

Panton suffered 14 fractures

and lung contusions including breaking both his collarbones, but shocked medical staff as the Jamaican rebounded in just a matter of weeks.

Just before rebuilding his wrecked Ford Focus WRC06, an offer to trade the car and the new bodyshell to a customer in Ireland meant Panton has received a Ford Fiesta R5 in return, which he will use in the lead-up to Rally Barbados.

As the car is in the UK, Panton will undertake the Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship round at Cadwell Park on February 2

in the R5 before it is shipped to Barbados.

Panton is expected to drive a Ford Fiesta RS WRC on Rally Barbados in June, saying: “Without a doubt we’ll be in a Fiesta WRC, we’re just not sure if it will be rented or one of ours.”

Panton’s last appearance in the UK came in a two-year assault on the Network Q RAC Rally, in 1996 and 1997. Panton – who had never seen snow and ice before – was greeted with one of the worst sets of conditions ever on the event in 1996, but still turned his seeding

of 76th into a 19th-place overall finish that year.

He is hoping the conditions will be better at Cadwell in 2020, where he will be co-driven by his regular Rally Barbados navigator and countryman Michael Fennell Jr. “It’s still going to be freezing!” added Panton.

“I don’t know a whole lot about the event, I just know you’re not allowed to do pacenotes. Rob Swann is entering, to come and race with us, which will be fun. I’ve looked at some videos. I’m looking forward to it.”

The British Rally Marshals Club presented Ian Evans with the inaugural Jimmy McRae award for the BRMC Marshal of the Year at Autosport International last weekend.

Jimmy, father of 1995 World Rally champion Colin, is club president.

Ambassador for the BRMC and two-time British Rally champion Matt Edwards presented Evans with a scale model of Jimmy’s MG Metro 6R4.

PAGE 27

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RALLY NEWS JBRC champ McErlean moves up into R5 class

Photos: Xxxxx

Lepley (r) and co-driver Tom Woodburn at ASI

LEPLEY ‘IN A GOOD POSITION’ AHEAD OF JUNIOR BRC ASSAULT BTRDA Silver Star champion makes long-awaited move into UK’s top category

By Luke Barry Two-time BTRDA Silver Star champion George Lepley is targeting instant success in the 2020 Junior British Rally Championship, vowing he is not there “to make up the numbers”.

Lepley revealed he would be contesting a full JBRC season in a WD40-backed EDSL Sport Ford Fiesta R2 at last week’s Autosport International show, which will mark his first season at an international level.

“I think every young driver is going to back himself, so I’d like to think I’m in a good position,” Lepley told Motorsport News.

“The gravel rounds I’ll probably feel very comfortable on and I don’t see why we shouldn’t be going for a win on those.

And the Tarmac ones, yes the Irish guys will be fast and they’ve done it for a couple of years whereas we haven’t, but it’s a championship game at the end of the day so we’ll try and get the points for the end of the year.

“We’ve won two years of championships

in the BTRDA, so I’d like to think we’ve learned that sort of skill. It’s a long game but I don’t go to make up the numbers – put it that way.”

Lepley came close to sealing a deal to drive in the JBRC 12 months ago but the plans fell through at the last minute.

While he was thrown a lifeline by Baz Jordan to compete in his Hillman Avenger and won the Silver Star title for a second time, the 22-year-old admitted having “some form of direction is really nice”.

“Last year definitely didn’t do me any harm, it probably did me a lot of good, to

be honest,” Lepley added. “It made a lot of people look this way and I got a lot of attention so that was good. “[But I’m] obviously super excited to [get to the BRC and] get a deal to be associated with WD40, it’s absolutely mega. It’s difficult in this day and age to get a sponsor to start off with, so to have such a big company behind me for 2020 and beyond; I’m just super excited to get going, to be honest, and I can’t wait to be a brand ambassador and do my best for them as well as myself. Hopefully it’ll take us to some great places.”

Third BRC title on the bounce Edwards’ ultimate goal Two-time defending British Rally champion Matt Edwards says he is aiming to make history by becoming the first driver to win three consecutive British titles.

Announced at the Autosport Show, Edwards will drive the latest Ford Fiesta R5 MkII alongside co-driver Darren Garrod after a year apart.

The Welshman, who claimed the title in the older Fiesta R5 in 2018 and 2019, says he is determined to come out on top again this year.

Edwards told Motorsport News: “It’s fantastic to have another great opportunity to be in the BRC and to go for a third title in a row, which I don’t think has been done before.

“There’s been a lot of hard work done by a lot of people to get us here actually, and towards the end of last year, it wasn’t looking so good, so it’s a good feeling to be back.

“The aim is to win the title again, but we know that it’ll be a tough season, as

it always is. If some of the guys who are rumoured to be coming back are there, it will be one hell of a fight.”

The season begins with Edwards’ home event, the Cambrian Rally on February 8, which will be his first competitive outing in the MkII. “There’s improvement in all areas of the car really, physically and powerwise it’s a lot easier to drive,” he added.

“The engine is a lot better and the chassis is brilliant when we tested in Spain. There’s a lot more stability when I’m driving it so I felt really comfortable.”

Edwards has yet to test the car on gravel but aims to do some running before the Cambrian. The reigning champion is quietly confident the pace shown on the loose in the old car will remain with the MkII. “We won the Cambrian last year in the old car so we know that the gravel pace was good,” he said. “And I’d like to think that with a better engine and better chassis, that pace will still be there.”

Edwards (r) has reunited with former co-driver Darren Garrod for 2020

Reigning Junior British Rally champion Josh McErlean has signed a deal with Philip Case Rally Sport to drive in the top tier of the category this season.

McErlean will contest the full season in a Hyundai i20 R5 which he will part fund with the €100,000 (£84,000) he secured by winning the Billy Coleman Award last month.

Support for the six-round, mixedsurface campaign will also come from those working at Hyundai Motorsport GmbH in Germany.

“We gave consideration to the Junior World Rally Championship but in the end we decided against it,” the 20-year-old told MN. “You are guaranteed a lot of exposure but it doesn’t add up when you look at it from a valuefor-money perspective.

“We have made the switch from R2 to R5 reasonably comfortably – it was not as hard as some people have been making out.

“The two cars require the same style of driving, which has been really helpful in growing my confidence.

“However, 2020 is all about building our experience of driving on gravel and Tarmac in an R5 car. Getting as many miles in the car as we can and making it to the finish of rallies is the priority.

“We know what to expect in this year’s British Rally Championship.

We are going to be going up against drivers who are both quick and experienced.

“We may have to play the long game and keep one eye on next year. If we have to do that, if we have to judge it rally by rally, stage by stage, then I am more than happy to do that.”

McErlean will drive Hyundai i20

‘Tough season’ ahead for Retson in JBRC Finlay Retson expects a tough season in the Junior British Rally Championship but insists the aim is to win the title in his second year in the category.

He finished sixth in the standings last season with two podium finishes to his name, but is the only driver entered so far this year to have done a full JBRC season in the latest-spec Ford Fiesta R2 that is mandatory in 2020. Retson will also have new co-driver Rhys Stoneman alongside him for the duration of the campaign.

“Definitely, the aim is to win but there’s a lot of quick drivers out there so it’s going to be a tough season,” Retson told MN. “I might have a year [of] experience on the other guys which is great, but I still feel like I’m not up to speed with the car just yet.

“Hopefully I can get there this year but some [of the driver] announcements have obviously been quite good, so it’ll be good to see how we get on. I’m quite a big fan of the one-make series as everybody is in equal cars so we’ll find out who the best driver really is.”

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RALLY NEWS Photos: Roy Dempster, Kevin Glendinning

Josh Moffett used i20 R5 on Donegal in ’19

MOFFETT BROTHERS TO USE HYUNDAIS IN 2020 Josh and Sam to battle it out for Irish Tarmac Championship victory once again

By Jason Craig Brothers Sam and Josh Moffett will both run 2020spec Hyundai i20 R5s in this season’s Irish Tarmac Championship as both attempt to regain a title they won in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The move away from the Ford Fiesta R5 – a machine that carried them to overall and class wins in the cross-border competition – means their fouryear association with the car comes to an end.

One of the i20s has been bought and will be driven by Josh and it is expected to arrive the week before the first round of the championship – the oneday Galway International.

Driven by Sam, the second Hyundai i20 R5 car will be hired for each round of the series.

In the second half of last year Josh sampled different R5s, including Volkswagen Motorsport’s Polo GTi R5 and M-Sport’s all-new Ford Fiesta R5 MkII, with which he won the Jim Clark Rally.

“They are all pretty similar,

they really aren’t that different,” he told Motorsport News. “They are hard to separate and when I drove the Hyundai in Donegal we were not far off the pace.

“We are both doing the Irish Tarmac Championship in the two cars and although you go with the intention of doing well you never know who will be at the table when you turn up, and how tough it is going to be.

“The Fiesta let us down last year at crucial points in the season and that effectively put us out of the running,” added

Moffett, whose recovery from a broken ankle continues to go well.

Moffett insisted people should not read too much into the change of car for 2020, saying that they could return to the M-Sport fold as soon as next season.

“We could possibly be back in a Fiesta by then,” he said.

“We have had a positive working relationship with M-Sport all the years that we have driven Fiestas.

“We have been with M-Sport for six or seven years and we

cannot fault the service they gave us during that time. We talked to other companies like Volkswagen but we didn’t feel the support would be as good.

Hyundai, however, appears to be on the same level as M-Sport and that is the kind of thing we are after.”

Josh will also return to the Irish National Rally Championship to defend the Vard Memorial Trophy and will use the Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car that helped older brother Sam to the same drivers’ title in 2017.

New rally championship aimed at under-25s A new championship aimed at “bringing new blood” into rallying was launched last week at the Autosport International show.

Supported by the Roger Albert Clark Rally Motor Club, the Crew 25 Championship is exclusively for crews aged 25 and under and will comprise of six mixedsurface rounds.

It will begin with Rally North Wales in March, with the rebranded Kielder Forest Rally, Red Kite Stages, Harry Flatters Stages, Three Shires Stages and Carlisle Stages all included.

“Crew 25 was created with the aim of bringing people in and bringing new blood in,” championship co-ordinator Tiegen Lillicrap told MN. “And if you look at the demographics of rallying especially in this country, they are older people.

It’s a shortage across the board.

We don’t have enough young people officiating or competing so what we’re trying to do is help encourage it from every aspect.

“We wanted to do something that was a genuine championship for young people by young people.

You’ve got to be 25 and under as such and that’s it, it’s as simple as that.

We have opened up a class for drivers with co-drivers that are over 25, but if you do that you’re not eligible to win the overall title.”

The overall champion will be the driver who has collated the most points within their class and will receive a £500 cash prize for their triumph. Engine size is capped at 1600cc and four-wheel-drive vehicles are not eligible.

In a lottery-style draw, all registered competitors will be in contention to receive a £400 discount on their entry fee from round four onwards and coaching for both drivers and co-drivers will be offered.

Registrations opened last week and cost £50, with more competitor incentives to be announced in the coming weeks.

Rallying comeback for Black after breaking back in R2 testing shunt; will compete in upgraded Toyota Starlet

Toyota Starlet has been upgraded with a two-litre engine

Jason Black is set to make his rallying return in the Irish Tarmac Championship’s season opener – the Galway International – after nine months recovering from injuries.

Black, who dominated the 2018 Irish National Junior Championship, suffered a serious accident last season during a test prior to his planned R2 debut. The Armagh driver will now return in an upgraded Toyota Starlet.

“It was a difficult period last year,” said Black. “Things had

been going so well for the last couple of seasons but we’ll get our heads up and go at it again this season.

“During a pre-event test for Donegal Forestry, our Peugeot 208 veered off the road after a jump and hit a tree head-on.

It was a very sudden stop from a fairly high speed.

“Both myself and my navigator Karl [Egan] broke vertebrae in our backs and had to get surgery.

“It has been a long few months for both of us, especially at the

Frank Bird heads Brands Hatch Winter Stages entry as MN Circuit Rally Championship returns Brands Hatch hosts the next round of the Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship this weekend, where a fourth different winner in as many rounds could take the top spot.

The man likely to prevent that is top seed Frank Bird, who is aiming for a repeat of his victory on the Knockhill Stages with co-driver Jack Morton in their Ford Focus WRC07.

Attempting to thwart him will be Steve Finch and James Self in their respective Ford Fiesta R5s,

the latter finishing fourth in the Oulton Park season opener.

Richard Wells was rewarded for his Mitsubishi Lancer E9 switch with a maiden podium last time out in Fife, while Josh Davey aims to put persistent gearbox troubles aside to break his duck.

Davey drives one of five Darrian T90s visiting Brands Hatch and is looking for a second Class C victory of the season.

That class has been a happy hunting ground for Mike English in his Ford Escort Mk2,

grabbing two successive wins.

In Class A, Ron Walker has hit a purple patch with three wins from three in terms of MN Championship points. The Ford Puma man has the returning Adam Ripper (Nissan Micra) to battle, as well as Christopher Newton’s Vauxhall Nova which displayed spectacular antics at Brands Hatch 12 months ago.

The Class B battle is intriguing.

Chris Ruck’s Opel Corsa’s surge was halted by Ashleigh Morris’s Fiesta at Knockhill, and the two

will resume battle.

Paul Sheard returns in his Mazda MX-5, as does former frontrunner Martin Hodgson (Escort Mk2). Nigel Greensall enjoys his first outing of the season in a rally-prepared Toyota GT86, along with David Huxley’s Castrolsponsored edition.

Ashley Davies’ Peugeot 205 returns to the circuits after missing Knockhill, as does the Porsche Cayman of MN Circuit veteran Ciro Carannante.

start when our mobility was quite limited. I’ve been attending the physio and I try to go to the gym a couple of times a week to regain the strength in my back and thankfully all is feeling normal again.”

Black, whose brother and father also rally Starlets, has used the time away from driving to upgrade his car. His rear-wheeldrive Starlet’s 1600cc engine has been replaced with a two-litre variant, moving Black from Class 11R to the highly-strung Class 13.

“I’ve been trying to do bits to the car but I suppose for the first few months after the accident I was in no fit shape to be rolling under a car, but progress has been good the last while and the car is nearly back together,” he added.

“My biggest goal for this season is to get back in the car and get as much seat time as possible.

It would be nice to get onto the pace of the Class 13 regulars too and I’d also like to build on my gravel experience. Hopefully, it will all come together.”

SEEDED ENTRY Brands Hatch Winter Stages, January 18, MN Circuit Rally Championship, round 4/8 NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DRIVER/CO-DRIVER Frank Bird/Jack Morton Desi Henry/TBA James Self/Ian Davis Steve Finch/Sam Fordham Paul Smith/Dale Bowen Stephen Tilburn/Jack Tilburn Mark Straker/Simon May Joshua Davey/Tamsyn Davey Richard Wells/Calvin Houldsworth Martin Hodgson/Tony Jones

CAR Ford Focus WRC07 Hyundai i20 R5 Ford Fiesta R5 Ford Fiesta R5 Ford Fiesta R5 Ford Escort Mk2 Darrian T90 GTR Darrian T90 Mitsubishi Lancer E9 Ford Escort Mk2

motorsport-news.co.uk JANUARY 15 2020 19

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FEATURE Photos: Jakob Ebrey

Moffat and the reworked Infiniti Q50 made solid progress through 2019

Infiniti crew: Ash Sutton (l) and Aiden Moffat (r)

TAKING THE BTCC INFINITI BEYOND ITS LIMITS

Sutton’s last year in a factory Subaru was a tough one with the Levorg model

Matt James lifts the lid on the new challenge for the Laser Tools Racing team in 2020

O

n the face of it, Laser Tools Racing’s decision to ditch its MercedesBenz A-Class halfway through the 2019 British Touring Car Championship was an odd one.

Driver Aiden Moffat’s team parked its German hatchback and, instead, wheeled out a five-year-old design in the Infiniti Q50 for the Scottish racer to complete the remainder of the campaign.

The results with the Merc, which itself was not the freshest design on the grid, had not been what Moffat had wanted.

He had taken five top 10s in the opening 15 rounds, but apart from a fourth place in the dry-wet opening round at Brands, the pickings had been slim so Laser Tools Racing boss Bob Moffat, Aiden’s father, and the team had a rethink.

The team had purchased the Infiniti Q50 machines. They had previously been run in the BTCC by the Pro Motorsport team, which ran initially under the Support Our Paras banner in 2015.

The cars were at Laser Tools HQ in Scotland, and the original plan was to rework the cars and field them in the Touring Car Trophy. The team took a look at them and prepared them, but the interest level failed to materialise.

The Moffats then thought about what they would need to progress going forward in terms of the top-flight BTCC programme. And the answer was closer than they thought.

Aiden Moffat explains: “We looked at what we wanted from a car if we could put together the ideal package from a blank sheet of paper, and we had a checklist. We wanted a saloon shape and we wanted it to have strong aerodynamics. We wanted left-hand drive and we wanted rear-wheel drive.

Then we looked in the corner of the workshop and we had it there all along.

The answer was under our noses, and so we started to look more seriously at it.”

The decision was underpinned by some sound engineering thinking too. Laser Tools works with engineer Federico Turrata from Italian firm Hexathron Racing Systems. He crunched the numbers on what the Infiniti could be like and the returns it could deliver, and Laser Tools Racing decided to take the plunge.

Aiden Moffat’s decision to switch midseason was a precursor to the expanded campaign in 2020, and the result of that revamp of the entire project has brought a new challenge as Ash Sutton has now linked up with the squad to create a twocar attack on the UK’s top-flight series.

Moffat explains that the decision to run the older-spec car over the latter part of 2019 might have been a risk but it was a vital building block towards what the team wants to achieve this term.

“I needed to get myself familiar with rear-wheel drive, because I have not raced with that format in the BTCC, and I wanted to get used to the dynamics of the car,” explains Moffat. “The results we were having with the Mercedes were rubbish over the first half of last year, so we decided to make the change early to enable us to hit the ground running in 2020. The earlier I took the plunge to switch, the more knowledge we would gain ahead of the new season and the more things we could learn to help take the programme forward with a reworked car.”

The driving partnership is an intriguing one. Moffat has a top-flight team-mate for the first time, while 2017 champion Sutton, who is arguably one of the hottest of the new wave of talent, will get his teeth into a new project.

Most of Sutton’s success has come in the BMR Racing Subaru Levorg, a car which

was introduced because it has some inherent design advantages, so seeing him in the Q50 will be a real barometer of where he sits among the elite drivers in the category.

Moffat, on the other hand, will face intense scrutiny being alongside a 14-time race winner and it is the first time he will be able to measure himself against a driver of championshipclaiming capability.

Sutton is not going into this programme blind. He tested the Infiniti when Moffat first decided to use the car. The Bishop’s Stortford man sampled the two-litre turbocharged machine at Snetterton in a mid-season test session.

Initially, it was said that the outing was just so that Sutton could pass on his rearwheel-drive experience to Moffat to help him develop with a drivetrain he wasn’t used to in the BTCC. However, that was a veil and the real truth was that Sutton was assessing the car’s performance for himself ahead of the potential alliance in 2020.

“I could tell right away that the ingredients were there in the car to unlock something really special – and I would almost have been ready to jump into it there and then to complete the season, although I probably shouldn’t say that,” says Sutton.

“This is an exciting programme. There are brand new cars being built up by Laser Tools Racing, and that means that all the lessons that Aiden has already learned and the experience I had from driving the car at Snetterton can go into refining the package that we have for the season ahead. That means we should start from a strong base.”

The developments that will take place on the car aren’t only under the skin. A link-up with BMR Racing will see the bodywork on the Japanese car substantially reworked and its wheelbase

Moffat’s lame results with the Mercedes-Benz prompted the car switch puts it in the same ballpark as 2019’s most successful car, the 2019 WSR-built BMW 330i M Sport.

And the fact that the driver line-up has been set in stone and the development miles are already on the clock gives them both a step up. The improvements they want can be included in the new build of the cars and the ingredients that Moffat first wanted from the machine will be galvanised. The longer-term objectives of Moffat’s switch and Sutton’s test halfway through the 2019 British

Touring Car Championship were something of a smokescreen when it came to the longer term ambitions.

“I want to be in this championship to win, that is all,” says Sutton. “And I really think I am in a great place to achieve that. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

Sutton has a reputation of setting very clear goals at the start of a season and then going on to achieve them and it is that fact which makes his parting sentiment even more interesting.

The pressure is on all around. n

20 JANUARY 15 2020 motorsport-news.co.uk

ASI REVIEW

THE S OF TH P

Autosport International in Birming g ick a cliche: does the season really start here? Is it really the jumping off point for the 2020 action? The answer is yes to any phrase you wish to use.

Hair products didn’t even leave a mark on Chilton

TAKING THE WRAPS OFF – QUITE LITERALLY There was hardly a stone left unturned on the British Touring Car Championship stand at the Autosport International show last weekend.

The excitement levels for the season ahead were ramped up massively with daily announcements about who was going where, and lots of pieces of the jigsaw slotted into place over the four days to give us a real flavour of the season ahead.

Five driver announcements were the highlight, and the most imaginative among them was the reveal of Tom Chilton as a BTC Racing driver for the season ahead.

TCR UK’s Lewis Kent plays to the crowd in Live Action

The 2010 Independents champion and his new team dreamt up the idea themselves. Josh Cook took to the stage to be interviewed and he was sat alongside Chilton, who was masked under a sheet.

Cook wanted the preamble to go on as long as possible to leave his new team partner sweating under the sheet, but my sympathies took over.

As the host of the BTCC stage, I decided not to let Chilton be in the dark for too long, and we took the sheet off his head before the product in his hair had time to leave an indelible mark on the covering.

We got there in the nick of time.

The fans seemed to enjoy it, and it was just one of the many high points that occurred over the four days.

From the chatterbox Michael Crees landing his dream deal at BTC Racing too through to Senna Proctor being announced as the first driver for the new Excelr8 Hyundai, there were surprises everywhere.

The expectation among the fans for the season ahead reached fever pitch in Birmingham. It is just a shame there are another two-and-a-half months until the season starts…

Matt James

The 2020 edition of the Autosport International show in Birmingham brought thousands of fans to the NEC to rub shoulders with the stars, admire some of motorsport’s finest machines and to get a real insight into what might lie ahead in the next 12 months on the stages, short ovals and race tracks.

The highlights included the visit of two of Formula 1’s hottest new talents in Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s British superstar Lando Norris.

They were grilled on the main Autosport Stage and spent plenty of time meeting the fans and patiently answering all manner of questions.

Those were the headline acts, but around every corner there were stunning things to see that captured the interest of fans from every branch of motorsport. It showed the industry, as well as the on-track action, will be in rude health going into 2020. Has the season started yet? Well, actually, no it hasn’t, but the anticipation levels injected into the veins last weekend means that we really can’t wait.

Patrick Watts’s Studebaker took up big floorspace

motorsport-news.co.uk JANUARY 15 2020 21

STARS HE SHOW

Photos: Jakob Ebrey, LAT

gham ramped up the pre-season excitement

National racing was front and centre at Autosport

Charles Leclerc was the centre of attention on Sunday

Lando Norris was happy to pose for photographs

SEVENTY YEARS COMES TOGETHER TO LAUNCH A DECADE

F1 memories from past and the near-past were there What does Nigel Mansell’s Lola T94/00 have in common with the title-winning Brawn BGP 001? Or how about a Porsche 917 and a Lancia Stratos? The answer, they all featured as part of the 70 years of Autosport display at ASI. The crop of cars that had been assembled to mark MN’s sister title’s landmark year was quite simply stunning. Alongside those machines,

there were the likes of the all-conquering McLaren MP4/4, the revolutionary Lotus 79 and a classic Silk Cut-liveried Jaguar XJR-9. In all, there were three significant cars from each of the seven decades making up the enormous display.

Right from the Jaguar C-type and Maserati 250F from the 1950s up to the Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid machine from 2015, the range was stunning. There was

even a nod to motorsport’s future with the first-generation Spark Formula E car.

My personal favourite? I think it had to be the Brawn, given its rarity. Or maybe, the glorious 79. No, the 917 resplendent in Gulf colours. Actually, you know what, they were all good in their different ways.

And undeniably my highlight of this year’s show.

Stephen Lickorish

22 JANUARY 15 2020 motorsport-news.co.uk

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ASI REVIEW KEEPING IT REAL… ON A SIMULATOR The BTCC’s boy band reformed in Birmingham

Everyone was welcome to have a go at the simulator

A personal highlight of any Autosport International show is the chance to jump on one of the many simulators on offer.

From driving the Mazda 787B at Silverstone to sliding a rallycross car around or even taking to the wheel of a go-kart, there’s the chance for members of the public to show how good (or bad) they are and in my case it makes a welcome change from using my own flimsy and basic steering wheel and pedals. A number of simulators were on offer in the Esports area, which has continued to grow yearon-year and at the 2020 edition of ASI this was no exception.

Complete with massive TV screen and plenty of seating, some of the world’s top gamers were in action for the Le Mans Esports Series and DiRT Rally 2.0 World Series. And the excitement and drama was just as intense as watching any real-life event.

Williams Esports recovered from a poor start to win on the final lap and book a spot in the Le Mans Esports Super Final. While tears of despair turned into tears of joy for Joona Pankkonen who claimed the DiRT rally title as Killian Dall’olmo became the rallycross champion.

Stefan Mackley

Closer than ever: fans check out the F1 display

Street fighters: stars on the NEC carpet

Competitive action took place in the show halls

A STEP BACK PROMPTS GLORIOUS MEMORIES

BGM line-up took Paul Lawrence’s breath away

For those with a passion for motorsport’s heritage, there was a runaway show highlight in the glorious feature display of period rally cars from BGM Sport.

Though put together at relatively short notice, the 12-car line-up from Ian Gwynne and his team was outstanding and encapsulated nearly 60 years of rallying history.

In addition, a Lancia Stratos and a Subaru Impreza from BGM starred on the Autosport display.

Gwynne’s team is responsible for around 50 cars on behalf of customers and owners and most of them are active in demonstration events. A lot of the cars have been beautifully restored by the six-man operation, which is renowned for its work

on unique and original cars.

One line of cars was a snapshot of Ford’s rallying history with a Mk1 Lotus Cortina, RS1700T, RS200, Focus WRC and Fiesta R5 showing more than half a century of development.

Meanwhile, another line of genuine period cars took in the ex-works Chevette made famous

by Ian’s late father Bill, Henri Toivonen’s Sunbeam Lotus, an ex-Markku Alen Fiat 131, a Lancia 037 and a Ferrari 308 GTB. “We’ve just completed a restoration of a 1955 Lancia Aurelia and we can do anything from that up to an R5 car,” said Gwynne. “Subaru Imprezas and 308 GTBs are other specialities.”

Paul Lawrence

motorsport-news.co.uk JANUARY 15 2020 23

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A STEP UP TO THE BIG LEAGUE

The Citroen Supercar was on show at ASI

The biggest rallycross announcement to come out of Autosport International 2020 wasn’t wholly unexpected.

On Friday, it was confirmed that Tristan Ovenden will race a Citroen DS 3 Supercar in the 2020 British Rallycross Championship.

While positive for both the Kent driver and the series, the news wasn’t unexpected because of the manner in which he has gone about his racing since he started a career that has carried him to five rallycross titles in the past six years.

Having developed his skills in the ultra-close single-make Swift Sport Rallycross Championship, the stand on which Ovenden’s DS 3 was displayed last weekend, he bagged a pair of titles, before stepping up a category.

Acquiring a former title-winning Renault Clio V6, Ovenden and his

Herbert regaled ASI with stories

Full contact: close up with BriSCA

A SPRING IN THE STEP WITH A BRITISH FLOURISH

Fans could check out the Formula E machine

Grubby is beautiful: the Le Mans-winning Toyota

team had to learn the mechanics and set-up of the machine as much as Ovenden had to master driving it. They did both and for the past three years, Ovenden has dominated the two-wheel-drive Supernational class.

But, he hasn’t jumped straight into Supercar. He rented a car, the same one he has now bought, for a non-championship event last year, and discussed with his small team of volunteers at length about whether they wanted to take onthe challenge of running a four-wheel-drive monster.

Having made that decision, it was refreshing to chat with Ovenden on Friday afternoon, who has proven it’s possible to climb from the bottom to the top of the ladder in British RX and, with his methodical approach, could be a title contender this season.

Hal Ridge

Drawing a crowd: the main stage was a focal point M-Sport’s reveal showed a new WRC flavour for 2020

Little and large: kids were catered for too

Let’s face it, as British rally fans, we have a vast amount to be thankful to the 1995 World Rally Championship season for. And, just for once, this isn’t going to be about Colin McRae. The focus this time is Francois Delecour and his Boreham-run Ford Escort RS Cosworth. It’s the livery from that 1995 car that we have to thank for the new colour scheme adorning Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport Ford World Rally Team cars this season.

And the first glimpse of the 2020 decals was unveiled on Autosport’s centre stage on Thursday. Rarely these days does an unveiling receive so much attention. This year’s Ford Fiesta

WRC deserved every bit of it.

And so does the driver line-up of Esapekka Lappi, Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith.

Talking to Wilson, team principal Richard Millener and the drivers in Birmingham last week, it was impossible not to sense the optimism and potential.

Granted, it wasn’t quite the grand WRC unveiling we’d hoped for, but one out of three really wasn’t bad – especially when it looked as good as this one did.

Here’s hoping the 1995-inspired cars run better than they did 25 years ago, when Delecour and his team-mate Bruno Thiry failed to win a single round.

David Evans

motorsport-news.co.uk JANUARY 15 2020 25

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INSIGHT

REVEALING THE SECRET

Clubmans is a category with a long history but is looking to a bright new future with MSVR. By Stephen Lickorish Photos: Ollie Read, Joy Richings

F

ifty-five years. There are very few categories around the world that have existed for such a long time, let alone in the UK. But Clubmans is one formula that can boast such an extensive history and, for 50 of those 55 years, there has been a British Automobile Racing Club-run Clubmans championship.

Clubmans community is strong

However, the start of the new decade brings change and a new opportunity. The extensive association between the BARC and Clubmans is now over as the Clubmans Sports Prototype series has moved across to the MotorSport Vision Racing stable for 2020. And Clubmans Register vice chairman Peter Richings is excited about the next chapter in the category’s long history.

“We feel we’ve been hidden away a little bit and we needed to break out and show what we can do,” says Richings, who first began competing in Clubmans back in 1979 and has raced alongside a host of notable drivers in the series, including 1991 British Touring Car champion Will Hoy. “Our last race of last year we did with the British Racing and Sports Car Club and suddenly there were a whole bunch of different race

New season and a new home for Clubmans

categories alongside us and it was interesting how some of the competitors from other series were coming over and saying ‘these cars are interesting, they’re quick, how much does it cost to run one of these?’

“Really, we ought to be getting ourselves seen by more people and getting a decent grid size is so important these days and getting the right circuits and right spread throughout the year is really important. I’m not knocking the BARC, they’ve done a lot for us and have been great but they were increasingly unable to offer us races at the circuits we wanted to go to at the time we wanted to go to them. We thought we needed to talk to a few other organisers and what we found with MSVR was they were really enthusiastic to talk with us.

“They offered us a calendar which looked good but they had us going to Snetterton twice. We said there’s nothing wrong with Snetterton but we’d rather [go elsewhere]. They said where would you like to go, and we said we like Croft, it’s a super circuit and one of our favourites. They said they’ve got an arrangement with the Darlington and District Motor Club and they can run a race for us. So we did that deal and it was just so easy.”

Richings feels this is a chance for the series to reinvent itself

and take advantage of MSVR’s enthusiasm for the category.

A new race format will be trialled at two of this year’s six events where qualifying and two races will take place in a single day, instead of having three races spread over a whole weekend. Clubmans will also benefit from a permanent clerk of the course for the first time and Richings is optimistic about being able to promote the series better in its new surroundings.

“I don’t believe there’s any formula in the UK where you can go racing in such a quick car at such a reasonable price,” he adds. “But we’re under the radar for a lot of people. The CSP1 top class cars are seriously quick cars – 200bhp, 460kg, that’s a pretty good power-toweight ratio. They can lap the Brands Indy circuit in 46 seconds, that’s quicker than a touring car. And yet you can actually run on a sensible budget if you’re prepared to do a bit of work yourself.

“People have said we’re the best-kept secret in motorsport, but we don’t want to be a secret – we want people to know about what we’re doing.”

With the move to MSVR, the Register is hoping the ‘secret’ appeal of the Clubmans machines and close-knit community will be in the open once more. n

GRADUATING TO THE FRONT OF THE GRID Student Motorsport is a new team joining the Clio Cup UK with bold ambitions – both on and off the track. By Stephen Lickorish

T

here has been a number of teams that have expressed interest in the revamped Clio Cup UK series. Featuring a new car that has gone back to basics, new surroundings after a switch from the British Touring Car Championship support bill to the British GT paddock, and reduced entry fees, it has captured the attention of several squads. Many of these are Clio Cup stalwarts, but one is something a little bit different.

Student Motorsport sounds like an operation that is allied to a college course and features a team made up of students. But in fact, it is a whole lot more than that. Instead, it is just the racing team of an operation that founder John Paul Latham describes as a “LinkedIn for motorsport”.

He says Student Motorsport was created following his experiences as a student, graduate, mechanic and tutor.

“I wanted there to be a central hub, a one-stop shop to share all the good things that are going on

Photo: Jakob Ebrey

in education in motorsport and help some of the things that aren’t being done as well,” explains Latham. “The vision was to create a network to showcase, celebrate and mediate what is out there.”

Operations director Patrick Hathaway adds that it was soon clear this needed to be broader than a straightforward website and had to be a membership organisation instead.

“It’s a case of developing a network that enabled students to gain access to the resources they need and make a few steps to go past simply having a qualification, giving them experience,” says Hathaway, pointing out a new website will launch later this month. “One of the important things is to go out and listen to students, listen to universities, listen to professionals in the industry and find out what they all want to know. It’s clear they are all interested in each other, they’re just not having the conversations and that’s what we want to fulfil.”

Given Latham’s wide-ranging background – which includes working in series as diverse as Mini Challenge, Formula Renault and W Series – forming a race team was also a goal and this was accelerated by the possibilities

created by the refreshed Clio Cup. But Latham and Hathaway are quick to quash the notion that this is a team more about giving opportunities to students than winning.

“The one thing that has been the hot topic for us is the discussion of the brand: is it just a bunch of students that are going to be running a team to their capability, which could be conceived as being low?” admits Hathaway. “That’s an image we need to fight. The aim is to have an experienced team – JP is very experienced – and then have the students helping out.”

Latham adds: “What’s really important is we are a team with experience in many different ways and what’s done on those vehicles will only be done by people who are qualified to do it.

“I’ve made a lot of contacts over the last few years and it’s coming to fruition now. We’ve had some very interesting driver enquiries and diverse ones as well, including from some female drivers.”

The team’s first driver is expected to be announced imminently and, with a second car on order too, the aim is for this new team to quickly graduate to the front of the field this year. n

Latham with the new Clio Cup car

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INSIGHT

THE LONG ROAD TO SUCCESS How Britcar has turned its fortunes around and is set for one of its best seasons yet. By Stefan Mackley

Photos: Jakob Ebrey, LAT, Ollie Read, Mick Walker

Entries per round have been good

I

‘‘

t’s not going to work if I just think I’m going to do it my way, it’s got to be what the customers want.”

Claire Hedley’s assessment of what it takes to create a successful racing series might seem an obvious one, but the owner and managing director of the Britcar Dunlop Endurance Championship is better placed than most to make such a comment.

The championship has constantly adapted and changed considerably since Hedley bought Britcar at the start of 2016 – from original founder James Tucker – when entries were dwindling and there was a real risk that it would soon cease to exist. But Hedley – who had already worked within Britcar prior to taking maternity leave in 2012 – has listened to teams and drivers over the past four years ,with 2020 set to be one of its most successful seasons to date.

“James Tucker had an amazing concept and I supported him all the way, but he just lost the passion and I’ve still got that passion and I want it [the championship] to develop and I hope people see that I’m doing it for them,” says Hedley.

“I’m not trying to make a million bucks, and you don’t in motorsport in this respect, but I’m trying to make a living and to make it work because I’m passionate about it.”

Passion will only get you so far though and Hedley and her team have been working hard behind the scenes to make the necessary changes which will attract competitors, both old and new.

Last year the Sprint and Endurance championships merged to form a single championship, with two one-hour races taking place on the same day to produce a more compact calendar – something which teams and drivers had requested.

There’s more changes this season with the introduction of the Britcar Dunlop Trophy, aimed at production cars in Classes 5-7 and which will consist of two 50-minute races taking place on the Sunday at the majority of the meetings.

“A lot of the cars were running in the [Endurance] championship anyway but

Hedley has turned things around with all due respect they weren’t enjoying it, they were at the back of the field and watching their mirrors constantly for the frontrunning GT4 and GT3 cars coming through,” adds Hedley.

“So we were thinking about it probably midway through last season to separate them and we’ve got 20 signed up already for the championship for this year and more to come. I’m very confident we will be easily in the 30s.”

There have also been changes to the calendar, which has been trimmed from eight meetings to six with the seasonending Into the Night race at Brands Hatch dropped after a low number of entries this season. The event had been a mainstay of the championship for a number of years but its absence is a clear indication that Hedley isn’t afraid to make tough and perhaps controversial decisions in order to secure the long-term future of her series. But the numbers don’t lie and last season grids averaged 22 cars – a respectable number for any championship.

Paul Bailey, who won the overall title last year alongside Andy Schulz in a Ferrari 488 Challenge, returned to the championship last season after seeing the positive changes.

“When James was running it I’d done it for about three seasons and I just lost a bit of confidence in the championship and I decided to move to other things,” he says.

“When Claire took over I didn’t immediately come back but she persuaded me to come and have a go. I love the two races on the same day, it keeps you

really busy and the day flies by. I think she [Hedley] is doing a fantastic job and Britcar is a great championship.”

He is returning again in 2020 with Ross Wylie at the wheel of a Brabham BT62 (see racing news), which made its debut last year in the championship with David Brabham at the Into the Night race.

Having such a prestigious marque compete full-time is another string to the championship’s bow, but perhaps the greatest endorsement possible has been the inclusion of the category on the World Endurance Championship’s support bill at Spa-Francorchamps on April 23-25.

After being approached by the pinnacle of sportscar racing, two nonchampionship races will take place at the event with 40 entries so far received and less than a dozen spots still available.

“I couldn’t believe it when I got the call,” recalls Hedley. “It was via the British Automobile Racing Club, Ian Watson [BARC general manager] recommended us. They [WEC] heard of us, a little bit [of me thought it was a wind-up], but we’re very honoured, it fits in with their calendar and their timetable very well.

“Obviously our reputation goes around worldwide, maybe they spoke to other people. They just heard we put on a good show, all our cars were well presented, so it was a great honour and they are more than happy to work with us which is great.”

Hedley is hopeful it will be a two-year deal on the world stage but nothing stays the same for long and she is already plotting the next venture for the championship, which could well include the return of a 24-hour race.

“You have to [look ahead],” she adds.

“Listen to what the customer wants. If this is what they want, one-hour races or 50-minute races, we’ll carry on but Britcar’s whole concept is endurance so we really need to go into longer races.

“I keep being asked would I bring the 24 hours back but it’s not within my interests at the moment. I’m not saying never but at the moment I’ve got to get this to work and at the moment it’s changing every year but not by much. The same concept, the same team of people and I can’t see why it won’t work.”

Bailey returned to the championship in 2019 and won overall title with Ferrari

Britcar will support the World Endurance Championship at Spa this year

28 JANUARY 15 2020 motorsport-news.co.uk

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INSIGHT

HANSENS TO CREATE THE NEXT CHAPTER

World RX stars Timmy and Kevin expand team to find the next generation of stars. By Hal Ridge

The team will expand from its 2019 origins

B

rothers Timmy and Kevin Hansen have continued along the path of emulating father Kenneth by both fighting for the biggest prize in rallycross last season.

While Kevin Hansen had claimed the FIA European Rallycross Championship in 2016, a title his father won 14 times, Timmy secured the World RX drivers’ crown in a dramatic season finale last year.

Adjacent to their own driving exploits in 2019, the Hansen pair also set up the Yellow Squad by Hansen driver development team, running a buggy-style CrossCar machine in RallyX Nordic events for Swedish driver Julius Ljungdahl. The squad won the RallyX On Ice CrossCar series and achieved a victory in the summer campaign.

While Yellow Squad will continue to operate CrossCars in 2020, the team will expand into World RX’s single-make support class, RX2. It means the brothers are again emulating their father in setting up a team as a commercial entity with

TEAM FAREN

Team Faren has RX2 background

Yellow Squad has won in CrossCars eyes on achieving success, just as Kenneth did with his squad at rallycross’s highest level when his own driving career was coming to a close.

The difference here is that for Yellow Squad team principal Kevin and head of driver development Timmy, they are both in the midst of their own driving careers.

As such, the duo have linked up with Team Faren, an RX2 outfit led by Eric Faren (see sidebar) run out of the same workshops in Gotene, Sweden, to operate the RX2 campaign. That leaves the Hansens to focus on driver development.

Assuming ducks fall into line and the pair make it back onto the grid in World RX this season, they’re in for another busy campaign.

“This is really a perfect step,” Kevin Hansen says. “It was always my hope that we would grow, but to make that step already for our second year really shows that there is a lot of potential and a lot of excitement about the Yellow Squad brand, which I’m really proud of. I think we have succeeded already in creating an image that is very strong, attracts a lot of people and is not an ordinary race team.

“For sure, this year will be a challenge but we want to do Yellow Squad now A long-time Hansen family friend who also drove with Hansen Motorsport to success in both European Championship Super1600 and later Supercar, Eric Faren has run his own team in RX2 since 2017. While also working as spotter for Sebastien Loeb in Team Peugeot Hansen, Faren’s Team Faren squad ran reigning British RX champion Dan Rooke through his maiden international campaign to second overall in RX2, including victory at

Kevin Hansen wants to secure his long-term future in rallycross paddock

Testing with the RX2 has begun

Hansen brothers will offer support

because when you’re finished with your own career, you’re no longer a topic.

We’re a topic now and we’re strong now.

There are struggles that we are racing ourselves, but Eric [Faren] is managing the team and he is a very good driver as well. He knows what he is doing, which is a very good feeling for us to know that he is operating it, but that also Kenneth, me and Timmy will be, as much as we are able to on the side of the World Championship team, with our Yellow Squad drivers during the weekends. We will do some RallyX Nordic races too, where we can really work on growing in performance for the RX2 races.”

The Hansen squad is no stranger to

running multiple cars in different classes. When Faren was racing himself under the banner, along with a cluster of commercial drivers, the number of cars was sometimes as many as seven or eight.

Yellow Squad announced 16-year-old Czech driver Dan Skocdopole as its first driver at the Autosport International show last weekend in Birmingham (see page 29), and is planning to announce a second driver in the coming weeks.

As one of the true rallycross drivers in the discipline and not someone who has switched from another car-based series to the dual-surface discipline (like brother Timmy, who was on a path to Formula 1 in junior single-seaters

Holjes. A year later, the Faren outfit ran Rooke’s British RX successor, Nathan Heathcote, and American driver Conner Martell, but now Team Faren will run its cars as part of Yellow Squad, along with facilitating operations and logistics.

“We’ve been working closely for many years, and I think we have built a lot of trust and respect for each other,” Faren says. “It feels natural to do this RX2 project together.

I’m very much looking forward to the season, there’s a more positive feeling around the whole sport this winter and our new project also makes it more exciting. All the experience we now have together in the collaboration should be very valuable in every part of the team. I think we share the same ideas how things should be done, and have been working in a quite similar way before.”

Renowned in the RX2 paddock for his

until switching to rallycross), Kevin Hansen has had eyes on being a rallycross driver since switching from karting to junior rallycross in 2012, aged 14, in the British RX Junior Swift series. The aim with Yellow Squad is to produce more young rallycross talents.

“We want to have young drivers who have not made their step towards the top just yet, to be able to share our experience of getting to the top and just making their careers easier; making the right decisions and giving them what we wanted to have when we were at that stage,” says the 21-year-old, who finished third in World RX last term.

“Offering an RX2 team with driver coaching, with physical training, a structured marketing base and a good race team is what I would have wanted to be able to get when I was that age and what Timmy should have been able to get in formula cars. In the end, it’s their [the drivers’] image and they need to choose who they want to be; we are providing the things that we can to make sure they succeed.”

Kevin has a clear aim for the team: “The goal is to establish ourselves as a strong RX2 team and get podiums and wins with both of our drivers.” n attention to detail, Faren’s team won’t have to worry about securing drivers event by event as last year, and will instead focus on achieving the best possible results with Yellow Squad’s full-time pilots. “The competition is very high, but I believe we can do well and fight for wins and podiums this year,” Faren says. “That’s always the goal. We’re all motivated to get going and to perform as well as possible every time we’re on track.”

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SPORTING SCENE OVENDEN TO STEP UP TO CITROEN SUPERCAR

Photos: Hal Ridge, Andros Trophy

Multiple champion to join the top flight in British Championship

By Hal Ridge Three-time British Rallycross Supernational champion Tristan Ovenden will graduate to the Supercar category this season with a Citroen DS 3.

Ovenden won a pair of Swift Sport Rallycross Championship titles before stepping up to Supernational, where he has dominated in recent seasons in a Renault Clio V6. He first sampled the same DS 3 Supercar that he will race this year in a Titans RX support race last season.

“I enjoyed driving the car at Lydden last year, it was a fantastic experience and we’ve done what we can do with

Supernational,” Ovenden told MN, adding his Ovenden Motorsport squad will run the DS 3 in-house.

“It’s good that the car is coming from the Doran team, they’re obviously heavily involved in the series so we can look to them for any advice we might need and they’re happy to give it to us.

“I just need time in the seat. It will be different to what we’ve done before, it’s another step-up speed wise, but it’s more that it’s different rather than it’s that much faster than the Clio. It will take some getting used to but I think we’ll be OK.” British RX will be operated by Lydden Hill Race Circuit from this season, with six two-day rounds

Tristan Ovenden has already sampled the Citroen DS 3 at Lydden Hill

Skocdopole joins up with the Hansen brothers for RX2 International challenge

BTRDA Series apes British RX tyre deal The BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship has joined the British Rallycross Championship in being backed by Cooper Tires for the next three years.

The entry-level series will be known as the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship presented by Cooper Tires from this year, but for the nine-round 2020 season, tyres remain open.

From 2021, Cooper will exclusively supply the Junior, Production and Production 4x4 classes, while the Clubman 4x4 (Supercar) SuperModified and Classic categories will remain open.

“We are proud to be working with Cooper from 2020,” said BTRDA Rallycross Championship manager John Rook. “The BTRDA continues to go from strength to strength and now, with a worldwide brand on board in Cooper, it takes the championship to the next level.”

Paul Coates, Cooper Tire Europe Motorsport’s general manager, added: “We are excited to join forces with the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship.

We have been focused on National, International, European and World Championship rallycross categories for several years, but we also want to be active in ever popular grassroots competition. This deal means we will be involved at every level of rallycross.”

making up the calendar for the headline Supercar category.

Ovenden added: “We think the championship is looking fantastic, having the six rounds as longer weekends so there’s more time in between to prep the car then, at the weekends, more time to work on it. It’s not going to be quite so much pressure on the guys as it is over a one-day event.

It’s looking really good.

“We just want to upset a few people.

We’re not out to set any records or do anything too dramatic to start with, we just want to get some solid weekends and see if we can get some reasonable results. We’re in the right race, this is where we want to be, let’s see how we go.”

Teenager has a huge opportunity

Timmy and Kevin Hansen’s Yellow Squad team has signed the first driver for its assault on the RX2 International Series this year, working in collaboration with Team Faren (see feature, page 28).

Sixteen-year old Czech driver Dan Skocdopole, who raced a Hedstroms Motorsport Volkswagen Polo Supercar in selected Italian Rallycross Championship events last season and a Volland Racing Audi A1 in the final

round of the German Championship, will contest the RX2 category and selected rounds of the RallyX Nordic Supercar Lites series. This year will be his first full term of rallycross.

The former kart racer drove one of the team’s cars recently in a test at the Kalvholmen circuit in Sweden.

“I’m really excited to be joining Yellow Squad in RX2 this season,” said Skocdopole. “It’s a dream come true to

be working with Kevin and Timmy, who have proven themselves to be two of the best rallycross drivers in the world.

“My first test went really well last year and I think I am starting to get to grips with the RX2 car. It is a very reactive car and it demands a lot from the driver to get the most out of it.

“There will of course be a lot of lessons to take on board this season but I am looking forward to getting out on track.”

Gundersen changes tack and eyes glory in Euro RX Supercar with an Audi S1 Former European Rallycross champion Ben-Philip Gundersen will graduate to the Euro RX Supercar category with an EKS-built Audi S1 Supercar.

Having won the title in the now defunct rear-wheel-drive Euro RX TouringCar category in 2016, Gundersen then raced in the single-make RX2 series for the last two years with the JC Raceteknik team.

He won events in the World RX-supporting RX2 series and finished

second overall last season, and also claimed the support class crown in RallyX Nordic. He will remain with the Joel Christoffersson-owned team for his step up to Supercar. The squad won both the RallyX Nordic and Euro RX titles last season with Robin Larsson.

Gundersen said: “Since I started competing as a 15-year-old, I have dreamed of racing in Supercar at

this level and I’ve been working on that goal ever since.

“This is firstly a learning year.

I expect many of the other drivers to have raced Supercar before, so it will be hard competition. I think it will be sensible to get a feel for everything in the first race, to compare with the other European drivers and then take it from there. I think our goals will evolve over the course of the season.”

Christoffersson and Gundersen (r)

RENAULT ZOE’S ANDROS GLORY

Dubourg took the works-backed Renault Zoe to its first Andros victory

Four-time Andros Trophy champion Jean-Baptiste Dubourg claimed a maiden victory for the DA Racing team’s works-backed fully-electric Renault Zoe ice racing machine in the third weekend of the 2019-2020 series at Isola 2000.

Dubourg dominated the opening day to score his first win of the campaign.

But the reigning champion could only manage seventh overall on day two and remains second in the standings to Aurelien Panis, who finished as runner-up in both of Isola’s pointsscoring rounds. Christophe Ferrier claimed victory in the second event of the weekend.

“It was such a pleasure to make the highest step of the podium and to win my first victory with the Renault Zoe,”

said Dubourg. “I wanted to impose myself on the race and we did that with the best time in the two qualifying heats, Super Pole, the Super Final in Elite Pro, including the lap record in the final.

“On Saturday, the situation was a little more complicated with the 60kg of success ballast. The result was not what we had hoped for, but we are still in the title race and that is the priority.

We now have a few days to understand and analyse what we lacked during race two to rebound for next weekend at Serre-Chevalier.”

World RX star Andreas Bakkerud had another difficult weekend, hampered from the outset when his team-mate in the Elite category crashed the pair’s Audi A1 in the first race on Friday, causing Bakkerud to lose track time.

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Motorsport News 1 Eton Street, Richmond, TW9 1AG

Fast-filling line-up shows the hunger There aren’t many spaces left on the 2020 BTCC grid with weeks yet to go Usually around the Autosport International show weekend, there are rumours swirling around the show halls concerning which driver w end up with which British Touring Car Championship seat. Those rumours can generally rumble on through the coming months and, as h been the case in previous years, some deals are done on the very eve of the fresh campaign.

Given the frenetic activity in Birmingham last weekend, it looks like 2020 will break all records in terms of getting the line-up sorted out ahead of time. Ther were six announcements (including Josh Cook last Wednesday) over the last seven days and the spaces on the grid that remain reportedly have some prett solid names attached to them. That goes to show the strength of the BTCC right now, which is something that is clear by the rising television viewing figures and the increase in the number of trackside fans over the last 12 months. Boss Alan Gow likes to profess that the BTCC is “the only game in town” when it comes to high-profile motorsport. Evidently, over the last week at least, he is spot on.

Matt James, Editor (Twitter: @MattJMNews)

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Terry Grant saves on tyre budget at the NEC,by Chris Collier

The MGB of Laurence Pain tackles last year’s Exeter Sporting Trial and managed to climb the slippery slope,by Duncan Stephens

Ten-year-old Ben Lawrence’s pic from the Plum Pudding trial

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Another evocative shot from Duncan Stephens at the ExeterTrial

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LISTINGS RALLY SATURDAY

n Brands Hatch Circuit, Kent MGJ Engineering Brands Hatch Winter Stages Starts 0900hrs Admission adult £16, under 13 free Web brandshatchstages.co.uk Details correct at time of press

TV GUIDE Head Down Under and catch the best moments from the Australia Supercars Championship (Thursday, 1200-1400hrs, BT Sport 1) as Scott McLaughlin secured back-to-back titles with an emphatic performance – winning 18 out of the 32 races during the season.

THE VOICE OF BRITISH MOTORSPORT

And make sure to watch highlights from the final stage of the Dakar Rally from Saudi Arabia (Friday, 2230-2300hrs, Eurosport 2), as former winners Carlos Sainz, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stephane Peterhansel battled for another victory in the endurance event.

LIVE TV Formula E: Santiago

Sainz led Dakar Rally on Monday morning

n Race: Saturday, 1805-2000hrs, Eurosport 1/TBA, BBC online

BOOK REVIEW FORMULA 1 – THE KNOWLEDGE If you thought the Dirk vs Jorg vs Yvan Muller World Touring Car Championship bouts of the mid-2000s were confusing, then feel for the poor Aintree circuit commentator. He had to differentiate between Henry, Mike, Dennis and Trevor Taylor – all unrelated – at the 1959 British Grand Prix, the occasion when most drivers with the same surname attempted to enter a Formula 1 world championship event.

That’s the quirky essence of David Hayhoe’s Formula 1 – The Knowledge: Records and Trivia since 1950, an updated and extended version of his self-published 2016 original, which boasts input from several prominent motorsport historians and statisticians, including Forix founder Joao Paulo Cunha.

Hayhoe, the statistician for the well-loved Autocourse annuals since 1991, has compiled an enviable base of information in a weighty tome of over 500 pages that covers every conceivable subject you can think of up to the conclusion of the 2018

Book is on sale now:RRP £35 season. From times when the wrong national anthem was played for the winner (Alan Jones had Happy Birthday on the podium at the Osterreichring in 1977), to the number of consecutive races in which a constructor has qualified on the front row (Williams’ streak of 35 between Kyalami 1992 and Imola 1994 still leads the way) and every instance when the number 1 has been used by someone other than the champion (the latest being John Watson subbing for Niki

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Lauda at Brands Hatch in 1985), MN has spent many satisfied hours poring over its pages.

A particular highlight is the coincidences chapter, in which Hayhoe notes the instances where one driver won on the swansong appearance of another driver who won their first race.

For example, Jenson Button won Michael Schumacher’s final race at Interlagos in 2012, while Schumacher won Button’s first at Melbourne in 2000. This previously happened with Schumacher-Ayrton Senna, Senna-Alain Prost and Prost-Alan Jones. Hayhoe also points out that in both instances of father-and-son world champions (Graham-Damon Hill, Keke-Nico Rosberg) the son prevailed 34 years after their father’s first title – which gives Mick Schumacher until 2028 to get one in the bag – while each of Sir Jackie Stewart’s three title reigns lasted for 392 days.

One of the common limiting factors with such works is their parochial focus on F1 at the expense of the wider world of motorsport, but that criticism

NEXT WEEK

can’t be applied here.

Hayhoe also outlines the major successes of drivers that have participated in grands prix weekends (including Friday-only drivers) in categories as disparate as GP2 Asia, Formula Vauxhall and Can-Am. Such is the attention to detail that Hayhoe even points out that Luigi Villoresi won the 1958 Acropolis Rally.

Although there is a 33-page section devoted to photographs, including glorious colour images of 1950s Vanwall, Maserati and Cooper machinery, and a summary of major changes to technical regulations throughout time, this is very much a book for the hardcore fan to build a greater understanding of champion drivers and those who weren’t able to make the grade.

For instance, Keke Rosberg (7.55%) led the lowest percentage of laps in his 1982 championship-winning season – just ‘beating’ Emerson Fittipaldi’s 7.87% in 1974 – and also has comfortably the lowest ratio of wins (6.25%) in his title year, trailed by the 10%

managed by Mike Hawthorn in 1958. Hawthorn is level with Phil Hill as the champions with the fewest career wins (three), while Denny Hulme (1967) and Niki Lauda (1984) are the only champion drivers without a pole position in their title year.

Hayhoe’s analysis of the worst-performing team-mates to championship-winning drivers perhaps unsurprisingly reveals a clutch of Team Lotus number twos who weren’t the main focus of team boss Colin Chapman’s attention – Dave Walker scored no points alongside Fittipaldi in 1972, John Miles finished 19th alongside Jochen Rindt in 1970, while Trevor Taylor was 15th against Jim Clark in 1963 – but he does unearth some easily forgotten drivers for various accolades.

MN’s favourite is Philippe Alliot (who started one race for McLaren in 1994) for the most starts without ever finishing on the lead lap: 109, and 26 ahead of Jonathan Palmer. That’s surely worth the list price on its own.

James Newbold

OUT WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22

Editor Matt James matt.james@motorsport-news.co.uk Deputy Editor Stephen Lickorish stephen.lickorish@motorsport-news.co.uk Reporter Stefan Mackley stefan.mackley@motorsport-news.co.uk Group Rallying Editor David Evans david.evans@autosport.com Art Editor Mike Stokoe mike.stokoe@motorsport-news.co.uk

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Historics editor Paul Lawrence Rallycross editor Hal Ridge Grand Prix columnists James Roberts, Stuart Codling, Ben Anderson, Jack Benyon

Origination/Repro Dave Sternberg

Photography LAT Images: Steven Tee, Glenn Dunbar, Sam Bloxham, Zak Mauger

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FORMULA E REPORT: WHO WILL WIN IN CHILE?

MN CIRCUIT RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS WITH THE BRANDS HATCH WINTER STAGES PLUS: ALL THE USUAL NEWS, VIEWS AND REPORTS

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38 JANUARY 15 2020 motorsport-news.co.uk

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motorsport-news.co.uk JANUARY 15 2020 39

Classified advertising: 0203 405 8109

WEB DIRECTORY

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THIS CLASSIFIED SECTION WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Christian Plucknett

Nick Gavigan

Ben Webster

Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Senior Production Controller T: +44 (0) 20 3405 8110 T: +44 (0) 20 3405 8148 T: +44 (0) 20 3405 8131 E: christian.plucknett@motorsport.com E: nick.gavigan@motorsport.com E: ben.webster@motorsport.com

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