AMD TUNING TAKES OVER TRIPLE EIGHT BMW GT3 ENTRY

Mowle and Osborne head two-car British GT effort

British Touring Car squad AMD Tuning will expand its British GT attack to field two BMW Z4 GT3S this year, with series regulars Joe Osborne and Lee Mowle leading the team.

The West Thurrock-based squad has brokered a deal to take over the running of the former Triple Eight Racing BMWS. Mowle and Osborne will continue in the same chassis they raced to third in GT3 last year. The drivers for the second car have yet to be confirmed.

AMD Tuning, which also plans to run at least one Audi S3 in the 2016 BTCC, joined British GT last year with a single entry into the GT4 division. It ran Graham Coomes and Jake Hill for a part-campaign in a Porsche 911.

AMD head Shaun Hollamby said: “Having had the chance to experience British GT for the first time last season it became clear we wanted to be part of the series for the long term. We’re delighted to move into GT3 with a two-car team.

“The BMW has proven itself to be a strong package in recent years and in Lee and Joe we have an established pairing in place who have shown they are capable of challenging for the title.”

Former Triple Eight and Trackspeed chief engineer Keith Cheetham will also move across to AMD to bring GT3 experience to the team.

Mowle added: “I’ve known Shaun for a few years now through the BTCC and his team fits the bill. AMD is run as a tight ship and we are bringing a lot of engineering experience with us.

“Keith will continue, having engineered the cars last year and we also have a wealth of data. We also ran the new Pirelli tyres in Blancpain last year. Having finished third last season, the consistency of keeping the same driver pairing is important.”

Osborne added: “We’ve learnt a lot about the BMW from our time at Triple Eight, so it will be interesting to see what emerges from looking at it from a different perspective and a different team. The championship will be very tight this year and the driver pairing that makes the fewest mistakes will come out on top – hopefully that will be us.”

Triple Eight will withdraw from British GT to focus on a new three-year deal with MG Motor UK for the BTCC. Team head Ian Harrison said: “We won’t be doing GTS this year as we intend to focus solely on our BTCC commitments with MG.”