Ian Harrison: “Plenty of irons in fires” for a 2015 return

Triple Eight MG boss Ian Harrison said there were “plenty of irons in plenty of fires” for a return to the BTCC in 2015, as he reflected on the squad’s manufacturers’ championship success this season.

Harrison was full of praise for lead driver Jason Plato, after seeing his team wrap up the first manufacturers’ championship for MG at Brands Hatch yesterday.

And he said the team’s plans for 2015 would become concrete soon, most likely in a front-wheel drive car.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Harrison said: “We’ve got nothing in concrete, but a lot of things in the mixer which are about to become concrete. We’ve got plenty of irons in plenty of fires.

“The alternative [to FWD]  is to go and throw everything away and build a rear-wheel drive car, and MG haven’t got a rear-wheel drive car.

“Twenty-five of the cars on the grid are front-wheel drive. You haven’t got to forget that fact. It’s a big risk in my view, having 25 entrants who aren’t happy, as opposed to five who are. ”

The one-two for Plato and Sam Tordoff in race one gave MG an unassailable lead over Honda Racing Team, a result Harrison said was not to be taken lightly.

He said: “You don’t beat Honda easily. It’s good to beat them – it’s like the old days when we were Vauxhall, and everyone was trying to beat us. They’re the guys to knock off the perch, and we’ve managed to do it on merit.”

Assessing the team’s fight with West Surrey Racing and Colin Turkington in 2014, Harrison added: “It’s going to sound like sour grapes, but it isn’t. Colin’s a good mate of mine, and he’s done a great job with what he’s been given.

“I don’t need to go into the whys and wherefores of rear-wheel drive versus front-wheel drive here, but the bottom line is Jason’s been the class of the field.

“He’s the best driver on the grid, and he’s driven better this year than I can remember seeing from him for a while.”