The RML Group will return to the British Touring Car Championship from 2016 as the new supplier of standard parts, series organisers TOCA have confirmed.
After a tender process was launched by the BTCC Design Group as part of a mid-term review of the series Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) regulations, RML was awarded a contract to supply the standard chassis, suspension and other associated parts that all teams will use from the start of the 2016 season until 2021.
RML succeeds the GPRM group, which has been the championship’s supplier since the introduction of the NGTC regulations in 2011.
Parts will be available to teams from November, with RML planning to test their components in the coming months.
“We welcome RML back into the BTCC family,” said Series Director Alan Gow. “In fact we actually go back a long way together, as the 1993 BTCC was their first touring car project.
“Our NGTC regulations have been incredibly successful for the BTCC – no doubt they are one of the most important milestones in its proud 58 year history – but success is never achieved by merely standing still, which is why this ‘mid-term’ review was always scheduled into our ten year NGTC programme.
“It’s great testament to the concept of the regulations that they remain largely the same after 5 years, without requiring any more than some fine-tuning to take them through the next five. Very, very few top-level championships have technical regulations that are as fundamentally sound and enduring as ours have proven to be.
“So as we enter the next phase of the NGTC regulations and indeed the BTCC itself, I would like to thank current supplier GPRM for their tireless work and commitment – but at the same time look forward to this new partnership with RML as the BTCC continues to go from strength to strength.”
The announce marks RML’s return to involvement in the series, having most recently competed as a team between 2009 and 2011. The group enjoyed a successful spell during that time, helping Jason Plato to a second drivers’ title in 2010 when it also competed as Chevrolet’s works outfit in the series, before the marque decided to focus its attention to the World Touring Car Championship at the end of 2011.
“We are delighted to have been selected by TOCA to provide NGTC chassis design, engineering and supply services for the next six years,” said RML’s Commercial Director Simon Holloway. “The British Touring Car Championship is quite simply the biggest and best series in the UK so it’s an honour for the RML Group to play a leading role in its engineering and design operations.
“As well as its undoubted levels of skill and professionalism both on and off-track, the BTCC also enjoys unrivalled commercial opportunities and welcomes huge audiences both trackside and on television. Being involved is advantageous on so many levels. We’re looking forward to working with TOCA and the BTCC teams greatly, and forging a successful, strong and lengthy partnership together.”