Dick Bennetts: “2016 has the potential to be very good for WSR”

Dick Bennetts’ West Surrey Racing outfit will be hoping the opening round of the 2016 BTCC season will mirror that of its 2015 challenge, which saw the team secure pole position and victory in the first race of the year.

Twelve months ago Andy Priaulx put the IHG Rewards Club backed car on pole position at the first meeting of his comeback year, but could not turn it into a race win. Rob Collard, who formed one half of the JCT600-branded side of the team alongside Sam Tordoff, stepped up to the plate to take the victory, starting WSR’s 2015 off in the best way possible.

Collard and Tordoff retain their spot in the JCT600/GardX side of the WSR garage for 2016, while Andy Priaulx, who moves on to race for Ford in the World Endurance Championship, is replaced by former Triple Eight Racing race-winner Jack Goff in the IHG colour scheme.

“The Brands Hatch Indy Circuit has always been a great track for me and I’d love to repeat last year’s success of winning the first race of the season,” said Collard. “The rear-wheel-drive BMW seems ideally suited to the track; it’s probably the best car in the BTCC in terms of traction and is very kind to the tyres so you can usually coax some good speed out of it at the end of a race when some of the other drivers are struggling a bit. Race wins are certainly the aim for this season and I’d like to think that the improvements made to the car should make us a serious contender this year.”

“I’ve been itching to get back into race mode for months, so Brands Hatch can’t come soon enough,” added Tordoff. “It’s not a circuit where I went particularly well last year, so while I’d like to correct that statistic, it’s even more important to come away with three solid lots of points and not have any silly incidents on what’s a tight circuit that can bite you very easily – especially with 32 cars on track. Brands Hatch will be the first time you see everyone running ballast-free, so that will give us a good indication of where we are in the pecking order. If we can have a good, clean run, I’ll consider that a job well done.”

As the BTCC prepares to kick off a new season, the West Surrey Racing team have been hard at work over the off-season, with a new-look 1-Series taking to the track this weekend following a facelift mirroring that of the road-going models.

It is not only an aesthetic change for the 2014 champions, however, with a number of alterations under the shell taking place, most notably the switch from GPRM to RML for the championship’s mandatory components.

“Brands Hatch has always been a good circuit for me,” offered Goff. “I took my first Clio Cup win and BTCC podium there and was second on the Indy Circuit last year. The BMWs have always been strong on the Indy Circuit too, so I’m pretty confident that we can have a good weekend. We’ve achieved some good results in testing and I’m sure we’re going to have a strong basis from which to start, but you never really know where you are in the pecking order until everyone comes to the first race and shows their hand. The most important job for the weekend is to stay out of trouble and come away with a good haul of points from the three races.”

“It doesn’t feel like very long ago since we were at Brands Hatch to finish the 2015 season,” concluded Bennetts. “But here we are ready to go again. In the BMW 125i M Sport we have a car that has won races in each of the past three seasons – including the drivers’ and teams’ championship in 2014. In Rob we have an experienced driver who never gives up and has a superb record at Brands Hatch, Sam is an extremely fast driver who will try everything he can to move up the championship order this year and in Jack Goff we have one of the most promising young talents in the BTCC behind the wheel, so the 2016 season has the potential to be a very good one for WSR.”