An Alfa Romeo presence will return to the top class of the British Touring Car Championship grid for the first time since 1995 after Handy Motorsport announced it will race an Alfa Romeo Giulietta in 2018.
Handy Motorsport have run Toyota Avensis cars in the championship for the past four seasons and will now switch to running the legendary Italian marque from 2018 onwards.
“It has been a long project to bring Alfa Romeo back to the BTCC, with many people working on this exciting development for some time,” said Team Principal Simon Belcher. “It’s incredible to have brought everything to fruition and an honour to be running the Alfa Romeo marque.
“Alfa Romeo is a passionate brand, steeped in heritage, and we have already started building our first bodyshell. Not only is this huge for Handy Motorsport, and fantastic for Alfa to have the latest Giulietta represented on the BTCC grid, it’s also massive for the BTCC as a whole.
“We want to win, we have a great team and that passion runs deep in it. In an Alfa Romeo we will have a car which is born from that same passion and I am looking forward to this being an instrumental part of our team’s future.
“This is undoubtedly the next logical step for us and I am absolutely delighted to be able to announce this exciting partnership today.”
Alfa Romeo UK Dealer Council representative Peter James is delighted by the announcement which will see the two-time BTCC title-winning brand back in the championship.
“It is fantastic to see Alfa Romeo return to the BTCC especially at such an exciting time for the brand,” said James. “Alfa Romeo returning to the BTCC has been driven by the desire of the Dealer Council to see the marque back on the grid.”
Alfa Romeo back in the BTCC – with a modern twist
The Alfa Romeo brand being back in the BTCC is sure to delight many long-term fans, who can remember the marque’s halcyon days in the mid-1990s when it was a leading force in the championship.
The Italian manufacturer first entered as a factory team for the 1994 season and went on to dominate the BTCC with its aerodynamically-aided 155 TS at a time when most Super Touring cars ran without wings or splitters.
Gabriele Tarquini won the first five races in a row in that year, before the brand then controversially withdrew from the Oulton Park meeting in protest at not being allowed to run its innovative wings.
Restrictions were put in place and Alfa Romeo returned for the following meeting, but the opposition had caught up after being allowed to add wings to their cars – leading to the modern touring car look that remains today. Alfa Romeo took four more wins that season.
1995 proved to be a difficult season as the deal to run the cars switched to Prodrive, with no further wins materialising, meaning that Giampiero Simoni’s win in the 1994 season finale remains as Alfa Romeos last outright BTCC win.
Alfas returned in a low-key capacity in the 2000 to 2004 seasons in the Production Class, with S2000 spec 156s also being seen until the 2007 season in independent hands, with Eoin Murray and David Pinkney the last drivers to race with the marque in the championship.
For Handy Motorsport to bring back the eponymous Italian brand in the NGTC era highlights how different the modern BTCC is, with teams able to independently build and develop their own cars and then potentially secure manufacturer backing in the future, once the product is proven.