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Geoff Steel Racing planning turbocharged return

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Independent BMW squad Geoff Steel Racing are planning to return to the championship for the second half of the 2011 British Touring Car Championship, switching from the normally aspirated BMW engine to an NGTC turbo unit.

AUTOSPORT has stated that the team has almost finished converting its second chassis to running with a 2.0 litre Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) specification engine.

The team bought a pair of BMW 320sis from Motorbase Performance during the winter, and had initially entered one of the cars for reigning Clio Cup champion Dave Newsham for the opening two rounds of the season. The two split just prior to the third race meeting at Thruxton, with GSR missing the next three meetings whilst Newsham switched across to race for Special Tuning Racing with their turbocharged SEAT León.

Once completed, the Geoff Steel Racing BMW will be the second rear-wheel drive turbocharged car on the grid after the Audi A4s of Rob Austin Racing, which have to run in that configuration due to the longitudinally mounted engine/gearbox in the team’s full-NGTC specification chassis.

Although Geoff Steel Racing haven’t confirmed the engine supplier, information to TouringCarTimes suggests the engine will be the TOCA supplied engine built by Swindon Racing Engines, and that GSR aren’t the only team investigating running the Swindon Engine in a BMW for the final part of the season.

Geoff Steel Racing are yet to confirm who will be driving for the team from the next round of the championship at Snetterton.