Welch Motorsport plans Proton NGTC entry

Welch Motorsport has announced plans to build a Proton Gen-2 in NGTC specification to enter in the second half of the British Touring Car Championship 2011.
“We are scheduled to take delivery of the Proton road car today to begin the process of building it into a BTCC car – so the realistic target is to come into the series in the second half of the season with a longer-term ambition of running two cars,” said John Welch to btcc.net.

The team is going to run the unbranded NGTC engine from TOCA and the plan is to have John Welch’s son Daniel Welch as driver.

“Daniel would be one of the quick youngsters coming in. He’s been very quick in everything he’s driven since he was seven years old – he lives and breathes motor racing and has always been fully involved on the engineering side so is a proper all-round competitor. I’m confident he really has the ability to cut it in the BTCC,” said John Welch.

Welch Motorsport has previously taken part in the SEAT Leon Eurocup but is aware of the great challenge to enter BTCC.

“Obviously it’s a very different challenge but in recent years we’ve come up against grids of 30 or 40 cars in the SEAT Leon Eurocup and been right at the sharp end, so have learnt something about making a saloon car go quickly,” said John Welch.

The team plans to debut the car at Snetterton in August, right after the BTCC summer break.