Triple Eight Announce Their 2012 BTCC Plans.

Triple Eight Race Engineering has today confirmed their plans to compete in the 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with cars built to the series new regulations.

The team, who currently lead the Independent Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships with James Nash in their S2000 Vauxhall Vectra with the turbocharged engine will be replaced for next season.

Ian Harrison, the Chairman of Triple Eight reckons that this is the perfect time to switch from S2000 to NGTC, as he explains: “Its fairly obvious now that the NGTC regulations are the future of the British Touring Car Championship. It’s quite clear too that the future has already arrived, perhaps a bit sooner than we expected. While our complete plans have yet to be finalised, we’re announcing the switch from S2000 to NGTC now as a clear sign of our support of the BTCC going forward and where we have competed successfully since 1997. The NGTC cars look the part and will undoubtedly become more reliable and cost effective over time giving the BTCC a solid technical platform from which to grow the on track aspect of the series”

The Vauxhall Vectras will be raced at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit over the 1^st/2^nd October and the season finale at Silverstone over the 15^th/16^th October.

Wells Records his Best Formula Renault Result at Rockingham.

Salisbury racer Dan Wells secured his best result to date at Rockingham during the fifteenth round of the 2011 CERTINA Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship, one of the support races for the British Touring Car Championship.

Balance problems during the test sessions hampered the performance for Wells but overnight changes made by the team proved to be for the better as he headed into qualifying for the first race. He was all set to secure Pole Position for the first race of the weekend but on his fastest lap, he was caught out by traffic in the final part of the lap. He would ultimately end up fourth fastest.

Sunday morning saw Wells make a flying start and was challenging for the lead as the field went four wide into the Deene hairpin, but Wells wasn’t able to complete the move and dropped back in line.

A fierce seventeen laps followed and Wells was exchanging the races fastest lap with team-mate Tio Ellinas, who is challenging for the title – but he wasn’t able to climb his way up the field as the Rockingham circuit offers very few overtaking opportunities.

The lack of overtaking opportunities denied Wells the chance to secure his maiden podium finish but crossing the line fourth meant he had secured his best result in the CERTINA Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship – this was to the delight of his team, Atech Reid GP and his supporters.

Speaking after the event, Wells said: “We’ve had a fantastic weekend and it wouldn’t have been possible without my partners Parkwood Health and Fitness, Pure Tech Racing and my family for all the support they’ve given me. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Next up for the Salisbury racer is a trip to Brands Hatch and the Grand Prix circuit, and he arrives in Kent sitting ninth in the Championship with 191 points and he will look to secure his maiden podium visit.

If anyone is interested in getting involved with Wells, please visit go to www.danwellsracing.co.uk or call 07899 665847.

Tech-Speed Secure Their Third Podium Finish of 2011.

Rockingham saw the GoMobileUK.com with Tech-Speed Motorsport team match their best result of the season during the eighth round of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship as Paul O’Neill brought home the team’s Chevrolet Cruze home second, behind Jason Plato – O’Neill had qualified second the previous day.

For O’Neill and the team, it marked their first Independents’ victory of the season and it came during their most competitive weekend of the season – O’Neill came within one lap of a double podium weekend.

“To be honest, 75% of the work was done on Saturday in qualifying as that set us up for race day,” he said. “At Knockhill, we knew we didn’t have the car to challenge and just had to grin and bear it, but we have come here and got the results; I’ve not had a weekend like this for a while.”

Starting from the outside of the front row for race one, Widnes racer O’Neill made a slow getaway and he dropped to third, behind the NGTC Audi A4 of Rob Austin but O’Neill was soon back into second after contact between the two cars.

Despite the introduction of the Safety Car, O’Neill held his position throughout and he secured his third podium of the season – he didn’t have the speed to catch Jason Plato but he was far enough ahead of the battle for third – and the team celebrated their first Independents victory of the season.

His second place finish in race one meant that O’Neill gained some success ballast ahead of the second race and this worked the tyres harder and as the race progressed, he was demoted down the field and crossed the line seventh.

With the reverse grid, O’Neill lined up for the final race on the second row and he climbed to third after a good start, but was soon down to fifth after a slide at the hairpin.

Lap two saw O’Neill regain fourth from Jeff Smith and he set about chasing down Rob Collard in the WSR BMW – he made his move later in the race at Chapman to move into third – before Collard retook the position on the final lap.

A second, seventh and fourth means that O’Neill had his best weekend to date and he now sits ninth in the overall Champion standings.

A Delighted O’Neill added: “I’ve never been a fan of reverse grids, although I know that in the past they have given a small team likes ours a chance – like last year with the Integra. However, with the Chevrolet being a car that has won the title, there is no hiding place and to go out there and get the job done by qualifying at the front and then taking a podium finish is fantastic for the team.

“A bit of inexperience in running with the extra weight worked against me in race two as I pushed too hard, too early and the tyres went off, but seventh was a decent result. At the start of race three I went into the second corner a bit too hot and lost a few places but from there, it was a good fight with Rob and when I got ahead of him, I managed to pull away. However, he got the place back on the last lap and you could see his tyres had hit the sweet spot by the way he just drove up to the top two.

“Overall, it’s been a great weekend and I’d say it’s been our best of the season because we did great job on both Saturday and Sunday and got the podium finish on both speed and merit. We’ve deserved the results we’ve collected.”

Guernsey-based team-mate John George set the twenty first fastest time in qualifying and from there, he secured three solid race finishes to end a recent bad run of form.

He finished seventeenth in the opening encounter and he was able to match the lap times set by Tom Chilton in the Team AON Ford Focus. His second race of the weekend was hampered after a collision at the Deene Hairpin meant that George has to visit the pits for repairs. He lost a lap to the leaders as he pitted for repairs.

He took the chequered flag nineteenth and he saw the flag in the third race as he brought the second GoMobileUK.com Chevrolet Cruze home in twenty second.

“The car had good pace this weekend but we didn’t get it quite right with the tyres in qualifying after the shower that arrived before hand,” he said. “I’d just put new tyres on when the red flag came out and then there were only three minutes left so I didn’t get the best out of them. Paul had put new tyres on a few minutes earlier and that was the perfect call, but it’s one of those things.

“Race day was promising at the start and race one was good but then in race two I got squeezed into the hairpin and got turned round. There was some damage to the back of the car so I had to pit which was a shame and then in race three, I had really bad understeer from the start for some reason and it got worse as the race wore on and the tyres went away from me.

“In all three races, I made a really good start off the line and it’s just a shame that I wasn’t able to get the results.”

Leaving Rockingham, the team now sit eighth in the HiQ Teams Championship while the gap to the big budget Team Aon has also been reduced in the race for fifth in the Independents’ standings, ahead of the trip to Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit for the penultimate round of the season, over the 1^st/2nd October.

“That was a much better weekend than in Scotland,” team boss Marvin Humphries said. “Paul’s performance in qualifying was excellent to put the car on the front row, and it made all the difference as track position is what it’s all about. The boys have worked really hard on the cars and in race one; it was really good to see Paul up on the podium for the third time this year.

“We didn’t have the set-up quite right in race two and he wasn’t used to running with the extra weight and then in race three, he did the hard work to get ahead of Collard but then started to suffer with a bit of a traction issue and it meant Rob could come back at him. However, he finished the race ahead of Jason [Plato] which is a big positive and we’ll take the results we’ve gained.”