Special Tuning Racing have today confirmed that they are to enter the 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with a brace of updated SEAT Leon’s, while no drivers have been confirmed for the Championship.
Talks are ongoing between the team and a number of potential drivers, both UK based and from overseas and the teams’ Technical Director, Gary Robertshaw has been leading the talks.
He said about the talks: “Interest in our BTCC programme has been strong due to the potential the car has to offer. The S2000 chassis will benefit from developments made available through SEAT Sport, which will enhance the already very good chassis. Our WTCC programme enables us to offer subsidised drives in the BTCC for next season. As is the norm the driver negotiations do take time, but we would like to firm up the line up early in the New Year.”
Having secured a victory and podium finishes in 2011, the team will campaign an updated version of their SEAT Leon and are working on further developments to the 2.0 litre turbocharged engine as well as the chassis, and they believe that they will be a competitive force with the equivalency measures which have been put in place for the 2012 campaign.
STR Team Principal, John Boardman said about the 2012 plans and the developments:
“Last season was our first working with the 2.0TFSI NGTC engine, and we have certainly learnt a lot working closely with our engine builder. It is never easy to hit the ground running when testing time is limited, so the development of the engine over the season has been a learning curve for both parties. Going into our second season, I am confident that the experience we have gained will enable us to deliver a front-running race car able to compete with the newer NGTC cars.”
Having previously announced a WTCC campaign, the BTCC campaign will see the benefits as well as the WTCC campaign will work closer with SEAT Sport.
The 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship gets underway at Brands Hatch, Kent over the 30 March/1 April while the FIA World Touring Car Championship gets underway at Monza over the 10/11 March.