BMR SUBARUS TO BE TWEAKED FOR 2017
The Subaru Levorg GT British Touring Car Championship machines will have an alteration to their centre of gravity next season to bring them into line with other cars in the category.
Team BMR built four of the estate-shaped machines for the contest this season, and the factory-backed cars were driven by Colin Turkington, Jason Plato, James Cole and team principal Warren Scott.
The two-litre turbocharged cars have a boxer engine, which means the weight in the powerplant is lower down in the chassis than most other cars.
Turkington won five races and finished in fourth place in the standings, while Plato won at Knockhill and ended up seventh in the points.
At a recent teams’ meeting, other outfits on the grid voted in favour of the championship’s technical chiefs coming up with a formula to level out the centre of gravity on all cars.
Team boss Scott said he was disappointed by the decision, but recognised that this had been done at the behest of rival squads.
“This is a shame, but it is how the championship works, and we signed up to the BTCC. There was a perception that we had an advantage with the weight distribution of the car, but I would argue that our speed towards the end of the 2016 campaign came because we were going into each of the race meetings without too much in the way of success ballast. We have to accept this and move on.” ● Laser Tools Racing driver Aiden Moffat tested for the Team BMR squad at Donington Park last week as he evaluates options ahead of his 2017 campaign. The young Scottish driver has also lined up some running in GT3 and GT4 sportscars before determining his future direction. “He adapted to rear-wheel drive really well,” said Scott. “We were all impressed.”