MOTORBASE EXPANDS BTCC TEAM AND QUITS BRITISH GT
The Motorbase Performance team will withdraw from the British GT Championship next season and instead concentrate on a three-car British Touring Car Championship operation.
The Kent team, which won the British GT Championship in 2012 with Michael Caine and Daniele Perfetti driving one of the squad’s Porsche 997 GT3-RS and has run Aston Martins in the category since 2014.
It has put its two sportscars up for sale and instead will focus on an expanded tin-top entry for 2017. Independents Teams’ title in 2016 with Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan at the wheel of its two-litre turbocharged Ford Focus cars. Jordan was also crowned Independents Trophy champion but has since left the team for WSR.
Team principal David Bartrum said: “These are really exciting times for Motorbase. We have a fantastic new title sponsor behind us that will be revealed soon as well as the backing of some of our long-standing partners. That has enabled us to push forward our plans to bring the third Focus out on track for our 2017 campaign.
“We’ve shown that we have one of the best packages on the grid this year and with some tweaks over the winter, we expect the Focus to be back up there competing at the front again in 2017. We’re talking to some great drivers at the moment and we’re working hard on putting together a title-winning squad for the new season.”
Motorbase Performance has got an extra licence on loan from Welch Motorsport, which will not be taking part in the competition next season.
Bartrum added that while the squad would withdraw from its British GT and Blancpain commitments, it was not turning its back on sportscar racing completely.
“It’s by no means the end of sportscar racing for Motorbase, but I feel that it’s the right time for us to regroup and to put all of our efforts into building on last season’s BTCC success,” he added. ● The AMD Tuning.com team will also expand next season, returning to running two Audi S3 saloons. It has already confirmed that it will run Ollie Jackson and boss Shaun Hollamby is in talks with other racers.