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Rob Austin excited by Alfa Romeo programme

Rob Austin insists he is more excited than ever about his 2018 BTCC programme after the Alfa Romeo he will campaign this season broke cover for the first time.

HMS Racing took the covers of the Giulietta at last weeks Autosport International Show in Birmingham, with the car set to hit the track for the first time next month to begin pre-season testing.

Designed and built in-house by the team, the Alfa Romeo will be the first car to represent the Italian brand in the series for more than a decade.

“I’ve seen the car a lot as it has been built up, but I’m so excited now it has been revealed with the livery on it,” he told TouringCarTimes. “However, it is the numbers on the spreadsheets that are just as exciting for me as we can see that all the things that a good car needs, the Alfa Romeo has.

“Matt, our chief engineer, is responsible for this and he has done a cracking job with the car. There have been some delays, but Tony at ABS [responsible for the bodywork] and Willie Poole [responsible for the initial shell work] have gone above and beyond to help us get the car ready for the show.

“I can’t recall a new NGTC car that has been this ready at this point, and had we not lost some really good guys, we would have been in a position to run already. Our plan though is to hit the track around the 13th Feb, which is when we feel the weather will be good enough to do some meaningful testing.”

Austin finished the 2017 season just outside the top ten in the overall standings having taken a first win for the team in the season finale at Brands Hatch.

Now, he will seek to move forwards up the grid in the Alfa Romeo with his aim being to challenge for silverware during the year ahead.

“We don’t think we were far off last year and we feel we deserved more,” he said. “We had a technical issue that cost us three rounds and I made some mistakes – such as at Brands Hatch in the opening round – that cost us a lot of points.

“Had we averaged out our score across those rounds and not given points away, we’d have been there in the top six and close to winning the Indy title.

“When we get it right, we were there in the mix with the Toyota and we are ready to stake a step forwards with the new car.

“With the Alfa Romeo, I feel confident that we can be a contender.”

Austin’s preparations for the new season were dealt a blow just before Christmas however, when the HMS Racing squad was rocked by the death of team member Shane Stokes in a road traffic accident.

Having been part of his team since 2013, Austin insisted that he would be racing in the 29-year-old’s honour during the year ahead and was keen to take some strong results in his memory.

“I can’t describe how big a loss Shane is to us as a team, and to me personally,” he said. “He will be deeply missed by us all, and I didn’t realise until afterwards how much love there was for him in the paddock. I know that is something that has been appreciated by his family.

“We are a small team and we are very much a family ourselves. We are all good friends who race together and then socialise away from the circuit, and to lose of us in that way is f***ing hard.

“We are really hoping to be able to dedicate some wins to Shane during the year ahead.”