Bamboo drivers won’t return for 2014 WTCC season

2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship Yokohama Trophy champion James Nash will not defend his title this season, with his team-mate and Trophy runner-up Alex MacDowall also moving on, with both drivers set to move to GT racing this year.

28-year-old Nash secured the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy title with bamboo-engineering in only his second WTCC season and the first title for the British-based team, which are set to announce their plans for this year shortly.

Nash is also set to announce his plans soon, so far promoting teasers for a GT programme with an Audi equipped team.

23-year-old MacDowall, who drove in the British Touring Car Championship for two years with RML from 2010-2011 before joining bamboo-engineering in the WTCC, will also not return in 2014, and is expected to reveal a programme in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the coming days, with limited cars available in the top division TC1 class this season.

The Yokohama Trophy will be fought for by the older specification cars run in TC2 this year, which will be uncompetitive against the newer cars from manufacturers Citroën, Lada and Honda. As a result, they won’t be able to fight for outright race wins as they were able to last year, in which Nash was able to take two overall victories in Austria and Portugal on his way to the Yokohama title and third in the drivers’ standings.