FORDS IN MOTORSPORT

FORDS IN MOTOR SP ORT

The latest racing updates from Blue Ovals competing all over the globe

By JAMIE AND PAUL LAWRENCE

Apec Racing With Beavis Morgan cars complete Motorbase Performance’s four-car line-up

APEC RACING WITH BEAVIS MORG AN FOCUS ST UNVEILED

Motorbase Performance completes a four-car line-up for the 2022 BTCC with Apec Racing With Beavis Morgan

Words JAMIE & M-SPORT / Photos M-SPORT

As the start of the 2022 BTCC season draws ever closer, Motorbase Performance has recently revealed a partnership with Apec Racing With Beavis Morgan for the Focus STs that will be driven by Ollie Jackson and Sam Osborne.

At a recent BTCC test event (we will bring you full details and the drivers’ feedback in the next issue) the Motorbase squad unveiled the car’s new livery just before getting into the serious business of testing and preparing for what is sure to be a hotly contested season of racing.

The striking new red-and-black livery certainly stands out, and links nicely to Motorbase’s heritage in touring- and saloon-car racing. The names on the side of the cars should be familiar too: Apec is widely established as the leading specialist braking supplier to motor factors across the country, while Beavis Morgan, of course, has a long-standing association with the team and multiple BTCC race winner Ollie Jackson. Oh, and there’s a certain Ford tuning magazine logo on there too...

Motorbase team principal Pete Osborne said, “Having a brand as highly regarded as Apec on board demonstrates the pull factor that BTCC has this season. This is just the start of what we hope will be a fruitful partnership and we can’t wait to see how the car looks when it hits the track.”

In terms of Motorbase’s presence in this year’s BTCC Teams Championship battle, Jackson and Osborne will score points for Apec Racing With Beavis Morgan, while Ash Sutton and Dan Cammish will score for NAPA Racing UK.

With four competitive drivers in the stable, each with a proven race-winning car underneath them, the Motorbase team will have their work cut out this season. But it’s a challenge the whole team relishes, and we’re confident they will rise to the occasion and continue to win races in 2022.

Of course, we’ll keep you updated throughout the season in the mag and on our social channels. Next month, we’ll have the drivers’ feedback on the new hybrid cars, plus all the action from the opening round of the championship at Donington Park on 24 April.

David Henderson has already scored a hat-trick of rally wins this year Words and photos PAUL LAWRENCE

HENDERSON SETS ASPHALT PACE

PETCH POUNCES IN THE L AKES

He cut his motorsport teeth as a youngster in Formula Ford racing and later marked himself as a highly competitive rally driver in a Puma, but after a long sabbatical David Henderson is now showing his class in a Fiesta R5 rally car.

Through February and March, the 47-yearold father of four from Durham scored a

Armed with the latest customer version of the four-wheel-drive Fiesta rally car, Stephen Petch put a marker down for 2022 when the BTRDA Rally Series opened in the forests of the Lake District in mid-March.

On the Malcolm Wilson Rally, former hat-trick of asphalt rally wins: two on the racetracks of Snetterton and Donington Park and one on the closed public roads of the first running of the East Riding Stages Rally in Yorkshire.

Gearbox problems on the North West Stages brought the winning run to an end.

“I had nearly a 20-year break from the

champion Petch had his first competitive run in the latest Fiesta Rally2 built by the team of experts at Wilson’s nearby base. Typically, challenging conditions and a bumper entry got the BTRDA season off to a great start and Petch used all experience to good effect to take victory.

Not so fortunate was young Elliot Payne, who was expected to set the pace, but whacked a front corner off his similar Fiesta Rally2 on an unforgiving Lake District rock.

Instead, second of the Fiesta pack in fourth overall was young Perry Gardener with a great performance in his older Fiesta R5.

sport,” said Henderson after making a racing comeback in 2019. But rallying had always been a passion and he soon got himself a full-spec Ford Escort Mk2 projectile.

The new R5 Fiesta followed soon after. “When I got the R5, we did a back-to-back test with the Escort and the R5 was 3.5 seconds a mile faster.”

Stephen Petch put down a marker in the Fiesta Rally2

Words and photos PAUL LAWRENCE