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Murray & Quest for Croft BTCC

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Rising Irish star Eoin Murray will make his Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship debut at Croft in a Super 2000-spec Alfa Romeo 156 – the car he won as his prize for lifting last year’s European Alfa 147 title.

Murray’s entry will be overseen by Mike Thompson’s Quest Racing team and means a second 156 on the grid, alongside Mark Smith’s In-Front Motorsport example.

But the team’s build-up to Croft suffered a devastating setback earlier this week with the death of team manager Ian Blackman in a motorcycling accident.

Team principal Mike Thompson told BTCC.net: “Ian’s death is of course a massive setback. No-one’s irreplaceable but Ian was Ian. He was so good with new drivers and would have been fantastic help for Eoin.

“But Eoin is a very good driver, as he’s proved. He just needs to get through that learning curve. Croft’s not the easiest place to learn, but he’s had strong results there in the past.

“The decision to continue wasn’t that difficult – first of all, it’s important we go ahead at Croft because Eoin needs to see we can do it. Another consideration was that we all felt Ian would have wanted us to continue. Technically, the basics will still be the same. I also hope this is the start of a long-term spell for Quest in the BTCC.”

Dubliner Murray, aged 23, has strong knowledge of the UK circuits, having been a title protagonist in the BTCC’s supporting Renault Clio Cup in 2002 and 2003. And his Alfa Romeo is one of the best Super 2000 machines ever built, having been driven for the Italian manufacturer’s World Touring Car Championship team N-Technology by double BTCC champion James Thompson (pictured above), who now races for SEAT.

Murray, testing his 156 today and tomorrow (Friday) at Snetterton, said: “I’m not expecting any great things at Croft – it’ll almost be like a test for us. Everything, the team, me, the car… we’re all new to each other so need to find out how we all work together in a race environment. Plus my car will have the maximum ballast for starting the season late.

“But by the time we get to Donington Park two weeks later, some of that weight will be off and I’d expect us to start moving forwards. It’s going to be very difficult to compete with the big independent teams but if we can be up with the likes of James Kaye, Mike Jordan or Dave Pinkney I’d be very happy.

“The exposure the BTCC gets and seeing how much more exposure Irish drivers get by being part of it made it a logical choice. Racing in the championship is definitely my longer-term plan.”