A Unique Way for the Fans to Show Their Support.

Triple Eight Race Engineering is arranging a book of support for their lead driver James Nash ahead of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship finale at Silverstone over the 15/16 October.

Nash has proven himself to be one of the stars of the 2011 season and at Rockingham, the eighth weekend of the season, he took his first overall win in the BTCC – before backing that up with a debut win at Donington Park in the British GT, at the wheel of a GT4 Lotus Evora.

As it stands, Nash can still win the outright drivers Championship and he had a comfortable advantage in the Independents’ Championship with six races remaining.

In what could turn out to be a Championship winning year for Triple Eight Race Engineering, the team are arranging a book of support for James which will be shown to him at Silverstone.

So far, the reaction has been mixed, as Mike Sheppard explains: “We’ve had some really good one’s so far – Unfortunately one or two on the BTCC forum think it a ‘bit strange’ – all we’re trying to do is reach out to the fans and invite them in a way to feel a personal part of what we hope at Triple Eight will be a Championship year. May be it is a bit strange that nobody as I understand it has done this sort of thing before.”

If you would like to send your message of support in to the team, please email mike@tripleeight.co.uk and your message of support will be shown to James in a file at Silverstone – or if you have a child who would like to draw a picture of good luck for James, those will also be shown to James on Sunday Morning at Silverstone. Any pictures need to be scanned in and then saved as a PDF file – all entries need to be sent to the team by next Thursday, October 6.

This is a unique opportunity to get involved and show your support for one of the most highly rated drivers in the BTCC as he goes for a BTCC title.

Triple Eight Look to retain their Independent’s Championship Advantage.

Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit marks the penultimate round of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and the Triple Eight Race Engineering is looking forward to racing once again on the famous Kent circuit.

Having taken their first victory of the season last time out at Rockingham, the team heads to Brands Hatch sitting third in the overall teams’ Championship, behind Honda Racing and Silverline Chevrolet while they lead the Independents’ Teams Championship.

James Nash is the current Independent Drivers Points leader and he heads to Brands Hatch on the back of two wins in two race weekends – he secured his maiden BTCC victory at Rockingham in the final race of the day before piloting the Lotus Sport UK Lotus Evora GT4 to victory at Donington Park a week later – on his British GT debut.

Away from the race track, Nash has found himself starring in the music video for former Busted front-man Charlie Simpson. In the video for the single “Cemetery”, Nash is driving a Chrysler Valiant Charged and he demolishes a fruit stand which Simpson is standing alongside.

Nash is hoping to keep his run of victories up at Brands Hatch this weekend:”I said at Rockingham that it was about time that I’d won and then, just a week later I’m winning again! Hopefully, I can continue the habit this weekend. I’m leading the Independents again and obviously I want to stay there. A good qualifying, top six is my first aim and then to take the weekend from there. I won’t be worrying about anybody else’s race, just concentrating on my own.”

Joining the team for this weekend at Brands Hatch as well as for the Silverstone finale is current Porsche Carrera Cup Pro-Am 1 Champion Ollie Jackson. Brands Hatch marks the touring car debut of the twenty seven year old from Reigate.

Jackson said about the weekend: “Brands Hatch promises to be brilliant. I’m really looking forward to the weekend. It’ll be my first time in a front wheel-drive car, let alone a touring car so they’ll be lots to learn but I’m with the best team to help me. Three competitive races will be my primary aim and if we can score some points too to help with Triple Eight’s Championship bids, even better!”

Triple Eight Chairman Ian Harrison has openly admitted that the team aren’t about to change their approach, despite being in contention on four fronts – they can still secure the outright drivers Crown (Nash is currently fifth overall), the Teams’ Championship as well as the Independent Drivers and Teams’ Championship.

“Two rounds to go and we’re still in with a shout on all four fronts. However, there’s no point in changing our game plan now because we’re nearly at season end. After all, the game plan got us here in the first place. Just as James has said, we’ve got to concentrate on what we’re doing and leave the worrying and the maths to others,” said Harrison.

“I’d also like to say that I’m pleased to welcome Ollie to the team. Stepping into a touring car, and a front wheel-drive one at that won’t be easy. He is though, a Porsche Cup Champion and drove a Lotus GT sportscar to victory at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium recently so I’ve got every confidence in his ability to do the job.”

Richardson Racing Look for Brands Hatch Success.

Andrew and Louise Richardson head south to Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, looking to build on their recent run of form as the 2011 Ginetta GT Supercup reaches the business end of the season.

The Brother and Sister pairing have shown some impressive speed in what is there and their family run Richardson Racing outfit’s maiden season in the series. They have secured a number of podium visits and they hope to add to this total during the upcoming trio of races at Brands Hatch.

Despite damage sustained in both the races at Rockingham, Andrew was able to secure second in class in both races and during his time in the Ginetta Challenge series, he visited the podium at Brands Hatch.

He heads to Brands Hatch this time round looking to add another victory to his total of four victories to date this season.

“I’m definitely looking forward to Brands Hatch,” he said. “It’s one of my favourite circuits as it’s very challenging and high-speed, and I’ve gone well there in the past; I got my first podium finish in car racing at Brands.

“The GP loop is what really makes the circuit what it is, and it can be very daunting as you’re racing at high-speed, have a lot of kerbs you need to attack, and don’t have much run-off if you make a mistake. It really feels good when you hook up a quick lap.

“With the bad luck we had earlier in the year, we aren’t in contention for the championship anymore, so the aim for the weekend is simply to go out there and fight for wins.”

Having qualified a seasons-best third in class last time out at Rockingham, younger sister Louise saw her season of bad luck continue. A clash with class rival Jake Hill, while dicing for third in class saw Louise in the unforgiving wall at Rockingham, and she was then ruled out of the remainder of the weekend due to a shoulder injury.

Her car has been fixed and Louise should be back out on track – after being given the all clear – and she will take to the track following to secure her first victory of 2011.

“My shoulder is feeling much better and hopefully by the time we get to the circuit on Friday, I’ll be back to 100 per cent,” she said. “Because I’ve been injured, I need to be cleared to race but I’m sure that will happen and I’d be very surprised if I’m not.

“The team has worked hard to repair the damage to my car as it was a heavy hit against the wall and its now just a case of putting the finishing touches to it. I love the Brands Hatch GP circuit and I hope to be challenging for victory this weekend.

“I had my best qualifying at Rockingham and the car felt really good before the accident. Hopefully it will be the same this weekend but with a different outcome at the end of it.”

The Ginetta GT Supercup will have three races over the weekend, with the opening race due to start at 15:05 on Saturday and two further races following on Sunday at 10:40 and 16:15.

Tech-Speed Chase more Brands Hatch Podium Success.

Rockingham saw the GoMobileUK.com with Tech-Speed Motorsport team secure their best weekend of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and as the series heads to Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit for the ninth and penultimate weekend of the season, the team hope that they will be in a position to challenge for their fourth podium finish of the season.

Widnes Racing Paul O’Neill secured his third podium finish at Rockingham – and his first Independents Victory of 2011 – to move back into the Championship top ten and looking ahead of to this weekend, he is excited for what is to come: “I’m quite excited going into the weekend,” he said. “We know that the Cruze is a strong package on the Indy circuit and I think the car will also be strong around the GP loop, even though there are some long straights where we might lose some of the advantage we have over the turbos through the corners. I love the GP circuit and the car went well there last year with Jason [Plato], so we’ve got to be confident about our chances and I think we’re going there better prepared than we were at Rockingham, which was our best weekend of the season.”

During the 2011 season opener at Brands Hatch Indy, O’Neill brought the GoMobileUK.com Chevrolet Cruze home in third. The Brands Hatch Grand Prix weekend last season was a wet one and at the wheel of the Honda Integra, he secured a brace of top six finishes.

He arrives in Kent in confident mood as he aims to secure another podium finish to help cement his top ten Championship position as well as his Independent’s Championship position.

“At Rockingham, we showed we can race at the front and we were able to match RML and Jason for pace, so I have to go into this weekend thinking that I can challenge for a win. It’s always in the back of your mind that the turbos are going to be strong, but I just have to give as good as I get and do the best job possible for the team.

“It’s vital to qualify well as we did at Rockingham and I’ll be putting more focus on qualifying to make sure we start from inside the top six as it’ll only help our chances of repeating the form we showed last time out. At the very least, I’ve got to aim to come away from Brands Hatch with another podium finish.”

John George in the sister car secured three solid finishes during the opening three races of the season at Brands Hatch – he heads back to the circuit with a best finish of eleventh this season.

During the most recent event at Rockingham, George secured a hat trick of finishes to bring to an end a run of tough luck, which he had been on since the season resumed at Snetterton. With a grid of 29 cars expected at Brands Hatch, George has set himself a simple goal.

“I’ve had some bad luck in recent meetings so I’d be happy this weekend if I could qualify well and then bring the car home inside the top 15 in each of the three races. That’s my aim, and if I can better that and break into the points then it will be a bonus.”

He reckons that the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit should suit him as it is a circuit he enjoys: “On paper, this should be a good weekend for us,” he said. “The Grand Prix circuit is one that I really like and hopefully we’ll be able to produce the kind of performances we enjoyed at Snetterton and Rockingham, where we were able to really challenge the turbo cars.

Motorbase Announce Tandy for Final Two Weekends.

Motorbase Performance have today confirmed that Nick Tandy has joined the team for the final two race weekend’s of the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Campaign, starting with the team’s home weekend at Brands Hatch.

Twenty Six year old Paverham based Tandy is one of the most successful drivers in the Formula One supporting Mobil1 Porsche Supercup as well as the Carrera Cup Germany arrives at Brands sitting fifth overall in the Porsche Supercup with the double header at Abu Dhabi remaining – while in Carrera Cup Germany, he takes a twelve point advantage to Hockenheim for the final round, which takes place the weekend after Silverstone.

“I’m looking forward to racing back where I started my Porsche career,” said Tandy, who made his Porsche debut in the Carrera Cup GB VIP car at Silverstone in 2008. “It will be really good to race in my home country again. I’ve raced just about every weekend of the season, but only once in the UK so far,” said Tandy, who didn’t think twice about joining the Carrera Cup GB ranks.

He is aware of the tightness of the Carrera Cup GB title chase and doesn’t want to get involved with the title contenders: “I don’t want to get involved in the title fight, but I want to get the best results that we can. In motor racing you can never guarantee your results!”

Tandy had his first test with the team on Tuesday, 27 September at Brands Hatch and he will take part in the official pre event tests ahead of the two races at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, which take place this weekend. Pre event testing takes place on Friday, with the two races due to run at 17.40 Saturday, 1 October and 14.55 on Sunday, 2 October.

David Bartrum is pleased to have filled the vacant seat with such a quality driver: “With Michael Caine moving to the BTCC, we had a Carrera Cup seat vacant. What better way to fill it than with such a quality driver? He’s absolutely current with the car,” said Bartrum. “We want to show the strength of Motorbase over the last four Carrera Cup GB races.”

Jackson Joins Triple Eight.

Ollie Jackson will compete in a Triple Eight Race Engineering Vauxhall Vectra for the final two weekends in the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit and at Silverstone, on the national circuit.

The team made the announcement this morning and Ian Harrison, Chairman of Triple Eight is pleased to have signed Jackson for Brands Hatch and Silverstone: “We’re pleased to have signed Ollie for Brands and Silverstone. I’m sure he’ll soon find his feet. It’ll be good too to have a second car out there again to hopefully to secure some more points for us in both Championships.”

Twenty Seven year old Jackson, who is the reigning Porsche Carrera Cup GB Pro-Am 1 Champion has spent the 2011 season racing in the British GT Championship alongside former Triple Eight driver Phil Glew. The two of them have been racing a GT4 Lotus Sport UK Lotus Evora, and they recently won their class in the ‘away round’ of the series at Spa-Francorchamps.

Brands Hatch this weekend will mark Jackson’s debut in the BTCC and his racing debut in Front Wheel Drive racing machinery. He is thrilled to be making his BTCC debut with Triple Eight: “I’m thrilled to have signed for Triple Eight and can’t wait to make my touring car debut. So far I’ve only had an afternoon in the car and Brands will be the first time I will have raced a front wheel drive car so clearly they’ll be lots to learn once Saturday morning practice starts. That said, I’m really looking forward to the experience, I know the track and I’m confident that I can put up a good showing.”

Geddies Close in on British GT Championship Glory.

CRS Racing saw Jim and Glynn Geddie move a step closer to securing the 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Championship title after a strong drive in the three hour race at Donington Park.

While the team was celebrating a podium finish out at Estoril, Portugal, the three hour British GT race was getting underway in wet conditions and the two Ferrari 458 Italia’s lined up fifth and seventh on the grid.

Both cars ran well for the first half of the race and it was Alex Mortimer in the sister 458 who was one of the first drivers to switch to slick tyres. At first, he was losing chunks of time as the track was drying but not fully dry – once it had dried up a bit more, he was soon the fastest driver on the circuit.

Just after the first round of pit stops, the Safety Car was deployed to help recover the stranded Aston Martin from the gravel trap and the two CRS Racing cars were running third and fourth, with Tate/Mortimer ahead of the Geddies.

During the second stint for Tate, he had a visit to the gravel – which ended his race prematurely and saw the Safety Car deployed once again – this meant that the Geddie’s were the sole CRS Racing representatives left.

At the end of the three hours, the #10 CRS Racing Ferrari was fifth overall and heading to Silverstone for the final two hour race of the season, the Geddies won’t be hampered by the success penalties.

“I’m satisfied with our weekend’s work at Donington and we can now really look forward to Silverstone,” said Glynn. “We’re now in a very strong position but there’s still a lot of work to be done before we can seal the title. We could have won the championship at Donington had results gone our way but it wasn’t to be although we have to be pleased that we stretched our lead. But we’re happy with the way the car is running after a lot of hard work from the CRS Racing team during the course of the season so we’re confident of finishing the job. However, we must ensure we remain as professional as ever to give ourselves every chance of succeeding. We’ll work alongside the team to make sure we are prepared as possible for the finale before yet another season comes to an end.”

Donington Park Glory for Scuderia Vittoria.

Charles Bateman and Michael Lyons secured their second victory of the 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Championship on board of their Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458 Italia in the three hour endurance race into the darkness at Donington Park.

Having finished eighth in qualifying, the duo played their strategy right and the appearance of the Safety Car late on didn’t hamper them as they secured their first win since Oulton Park, which held the opening round of the season.

In the GT4 class, the honours went the way of British Touring Car Championship race winner James Nash and Phil Glew in their Lotus Sport UK Lotus Evora ahead of the Century Motorsport Ginetta G50, piloted by Jake Rattenbury and Josh Wakefield.

The three hour endurance race got underway in wet conditions after earlier rain and this led to tricky conditions for the opening stint of the race. The early running was made by the Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin, which had Jonny Adam at the wheel, while most of the teams had started with their professional driver watching on from the pit wall.

Adam and the team had lined up sixth on the grid but by the end of the opening lap, they had climbed their way into the lead and they started to pull away to the tune of three seconds a lap until the conditions started to improve and this led to the gap stabilising.

Behind Adam, Gregor Fiskin in the Trackspeed Porsche had got ahead of reigning Champion David Ashburn and the two of them ran in tandem, rounding out the podium positions. Behind, Duncan Cameron in the MTECH Ferrari led the next little gaggle of cars, which included Bateman and the United Autosports Audi of Mike Guasch.

Just before the twenty minute mark, Bateman made a move on Cameron for fourth place and this move brought Guasch into play – subsequent contact between the Ferrari and Audi saw Cameron demoted to eighth while the Audi lost two laps in the pits due to bodywork damage sustained in the contact.

As the first round of pitstops occurred, it was the Aston Martin which continued to lead but it was soon all over for Adam and Andrew Howard. The field swapped onto slick tyres as the track dried out and on his outlap; Howard spun down to fourth at Redgate and soon lost more positions as the faster ‘pro’ drivers moved ahead. Howard then spun out at the Esses and this saw the deployment of the Safety Car for the first time. Howard recovered the car to the pits but it was soon retired.

This saw the race suddenly swing in favour of the Scuderia Vittoria as they had called Lyons in for their second stop and this kept them towards the front of the field. When the Safety car was deployed for a second time due to Andrew Tate’s CRS Racing Ferrari being stuck in the gravel, Bateman pitted and handed the car back to Lyons for the final stint – he was then back in control as the three cars ahead of him all pitted.

Lyons saw his final stint last for just over an hour and he also had to save fuel, he was able to maintain an advantage of over twenty seconds – until, with sixteen minutes of the three hours remaining, the Safety Car made its third appearance due to David Back’s MTECH Ferrari being stuck in the gravel.

Lyons saw then able to hold onto the victory as he had three lapped cars between him and the chasing pack – those behind were starting to get caught up in a heated battle for second.

“The pit stops and the safety car worked out really well for us, and then at the end it was real heart-in-the-mouth stuff for me,” Lyons said. “The tyres went through a phase, they started to come back to me and then the safety car came out again, and I was thinking ‘please don’t do this’, but actually it helped save the tyres a bit and at the end I was matching the boys behind me.”

Behind Lyons at the chequered flag was Matt Griffin in the MTECH Ferrari and Tim Bridgman in the Trackspeed Porsche. The two of them had moved to the front of the pack at the mid way point of the race – for Griffin, this was in spite of the earlier problems for Cameron.

When the second Safety Car was called for, it had been Bridgman who was leading and he dived for the pits as did Griffin, who was second. They completed their second of three mandatory stops and rejoined still in first and second, with Fiskin and Cameron having taken over the driving duties.

While they were behind the Safety Car, the duo suddenly found themselves stuck behind the GT4 Aston Martin, which was being piloted by Sergio Lagana. He was suffering from gearbox gremlins and as they were under the Safety Car, they couldn’t pass the struggling Lagana.

Having already been delayed by Lagana, there was further drama for Fiskin as he exited Goddards to take the restart – Lagana suddenly dived for the pits which meant that Fiskin had to slam on the brakes and this allowed Cameron ahead.

“The guy in the Aston Martin, I now discover, had a problem: his car was stuck in third gear,” explained a rather annoyed Fiskin. “When you have a problem with your car you should come into the pits. We were both stuck behind him and we lost everything. He was struggling and he would not come in, and then when he finally decided at the last minute to duck into the pits, I had to swerve to avoid him. The Cameron/Griffin car took advantage and passed us.”

This incident meant that the Ferrari would lead the Porsche through until the final pit stops, when they were both jumped by Lyons – Griffin and Bridgman then set about chasing down leader Lyons during the closing forty minutes.

With the appearance of the Safety Car for the third time, everything was set up for a grandstand finish; Griffin however found himself behind the lapped cars of British Touring Car Championship regular Gordon Shedden and Adam Wilcox, and this denied him the opportunity to challenge Lyons for the lead – any challenge would have been immaterial though as the race stewards awarded Cameron and Griffin a time penalty for their pass on Fiskin as it was still under yellow flag conditions – this ultimately meant that Fiskin and Bridgman were promoted to second ahead of the MTECH duo of Griffin and Cameron.

“This penalty is a difficult one because for sure the rule is that under a safety car you can’t pass until the start line but the Aston decided late to go for the pits and nearly took Gregor out,” Griffin said. “Duncan had no choice: he had to go past or hit Gregor. To dart into the pits like that was dangerous and could have caused a crash, so I think the penalty is harsh. You have to look at the circumstances.”

Outside of the podium positions, Ashburn and Porsche Carrera Cup GB regular Stephen Jelley finished fourth overall after having their challenge hampered by a number of small mistakes by Ashburn.

Jim and Glynn Geddie were the final drivers to finish on the lead lap in their CRS Racing Ferrari 458 Italia. They took the flag fifth overall – having served a drive through penalty during the opening stint for a starting procedure violation.

Sixth overall was the brand new Rosso Verde Ferrari 458 Italia, piloted by BTCC Championship contender Shedden and Hector Lester. It was an encouraging debut for the car and Shedden was soon up to speed with it, matching the times of the leaders as he looked to recover the lost time from earlier in the race when Lester struggled in the wet conditions – Lester hadn’t sampled the car in the wet before the start of the race.

Seventh overall was the sole Autosports Audi of Guasch and Bell. The second car had been ruled out of contention after an accident in qualifying – and having lost two laps during the early moments of the race, Bell and Guasch were unable to make up both laps and finished a lap down in seventh.

The top ten was completed by Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox in the 360 Vision Ferrari, Piers and Ron Johnson in the Speedworks Motorsport Corvette and the Rollcentre Ginetta of Ginetta GT Supercup Championship contender Tom Sharp, Martin Short and Matt Nicoll-Jones – Sharp had been one of the early stars as he took the G55 into the top five with a number of daring overtaking moves. Burton was awarded the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend award for his efforts at the wheel of the 360 Vision Ferrari.

Lotus Sport UK dominated the GT4 category with BTCC race winner Nash and former Clio Cup Champion Glew leading from lights to flag in the Evora, despite a late stop/go penalty. Glew produced a strong opening stint as he challenged a number of the GT3 cars in the Lotus and they took the class victory a whole lap ahead of the Century Motorsport Ginetta G50 of Rattenbury and Wakefield.

“It was a fairly straightforward race, really,” Glew said. “We got a good start, we had great pace in the wet and pulled a massive lead and we kept that lead pretty much all through the race. We had a scary moment towards the end with the stop-go penalty, but we had a big lead so it didn’t matter too much. James and I got on really well, we have a good team around us, and it’s been a great weekend. All thanks to the Lotus Sport UK team.”

The GT4 podium was completed by the KTM X-Bow of Marcus Clutton and Peter Belshaw – they had to ride their luck though as they had to serve two stop/go penalties. Dan Denis and David McDonald had been set for third in the Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta G50 before suffering a misfire in the final half hour, which saw them drop right off the pace.

Freddy Nordstrom and Leyton Clarke fell by the wayside in their Lotus Sport UK Evora while the Barwell-run Secure Racing Aston Martin suffered from gearbox gremlins and did make an appearance late on but some twenty nine laps down.

Running inside the top ten during the early part was the JRM-run Nissan GTR GT3 – which was entered in the invitational class for the Donington Park race – that was before it lost ten laps in the pits while a mechanical issue was resolved. Once sorted, the car returned to the track but failed to see the flag as it was left stranded on the side of the circuit when Nick Catsburg encountered a loss of drive.

Finishing eleventh overall was the GT3B Ferrari of Aaron Scott and John Dhillon, less than three seconds ahead of the GTC Chevron of Jordan Witt and Anthony Reid – Witt and Reid were another car to get a drive through penalty, this time for a refuelling infringement.

Heading into the final two hour race of the season at Silverstone on the 9^th October, 18.5 Points cover the top nine drivers while in the GT4 class, Belshaw and Clutton head to Silverstone leading by 26.5 points.