Now the season has come to an end, I'm knackered to be totally honest you!
We had a good day to finish it off at Brands Hatch, but it's been a tough season at times. I wanted so much in lots of ways and that always means that the lows are very low and the highs are very high. For Andy to have a couple of podiums is fantastic and I desperately wanted to have one myself this year, and its frustrating that we had great pace at Brands Hatch in the middle of the race but had a problem in qualifying that put us on the back foot and left us trying to go forward. On the last lap of race two, I was praying that I'd get pole position for the final race because from pole, and without too many BMWs around, I felt the car had the pace to win. It was a fantastic car and we didn't have to change much on; we found the sweet spot and it was bloody great.
At least this year I managed to not get taken away from the final weekend in ambulance! Before the racing started, Alan Gow said in the drivers briefing that Brands Hatch is only a short circuit and I wasn't to get a lift back to the pits from the medical team. I can assure you that I've never had one of those lifts intentionally! The accidents in the last two years have been two of the biggest shunts of my life and both were out of my hands. I was looking at John George's car after the third race and that has been hugely damaged. Team Dynamics build them strong however and the roll cage did its job and that was the most important thing from the final race; that John was okay.
For Andrew it's been great season, but for me it's been a bloody tough one. I really enjoyed the final round though and enjoyed the days racing as we had cars we could try and move forwards with. You can have days where you get the kind of results we did and you are just clinging on and seeing others move away from you but it wasn't the case. The cars were there or thereabouts all day.
Andy's podiums at Oulton Park and Knockhill were definitely the highlights of the year, but one of the other big highlights would still have to be his performance at Thruxton. He looks like Yvan Muller who is really happy with the car sideways; Andrew is the same. To see him sideways all the way round the back at Thruxton and challenging Plato for the lead was one of the best moments of the year. To see him on the podium at Oulton Park when I was on the pitwall and couldn't race was fantastic and he has performed way, way ahead of most people expectations.
He has even exceeded my expectations for him this year. As far as I was concerned, and probably as far as the press was concerned, I though it would be looked at as a learning year in 2008. I expected him to have a few top tens and to see him gradually edging his way into it but he has learnt to handle the media well, talks well on TV and is developing into a fantastic package for someone who is still only 19-years-old. He has a lot of blinding speed and will only get faster so the others need to be watching out in the next year or so.
As for next year, the Integras are up for sale but I'm not giving anything away about future plans. All I'll say is S2000.
We could carry on with the Integra as they are great cars. For the right team, someone coming from SEATs or Clios, you won't do better than the Integra as they are solid, are durable and are relatively inexpensive to run. They are bloody good cars but I need to look at the bigger picture and as far as Andrew is concerned, I need to see him in a car that is capable of wining outright net year. Naturally, the Super 2000 cars will keep evolving but we can't do that with these cars. To be honest, I don't think there is anything to evolve anyway as I think Dynamics did it all when they had it. We can't move them forwards and they are what they are. For Andrew's next step forward, he needs to be in a more modern car.
I'm looking at all possibilities at the moment for the future. I've had discussions with our sponsors lately and we have talked openly about those options of running two cars or running one car. To step up to two S2000 cars would be very tough and I would be surprised if we were in a position to do that. Even if I had the level of funding to do that, even though I love driving in touring cars and adore it, it is more important now to give Andy the right breaks over the coming years. That might well mean that next year we run one car and I manage it and concentrate on looking after him. At the moment, I'm not 100 per cent decided but I am a fair way down the road.
The current financial climate is affecting my view on things as well as we have fantastic sponsors behind us in John Guest and others like Pirtek, but to try and bring in new ones will be incredibly difficult.
If it came to a choice where I just had enough budget to do two cars but I knew it wouldn't allow us to do enough testing or do it properly then it's an absolute no-brainer. I would far rather have less money from our sponsors, run one car and do it properly. That's a simple, simple decision for me.
Let's see what happens
Until then,
MikeTeam Eurotech was formed in 1987 and has since gone on to win more than 30 championships, including the British GTO crown and the Porsche Cup. 2008 will see Eurotech continue its long-running partnership with sponsors John Guest as the team expands to a two-car BTCC effort for the first time.
For more information, visit www.teameurotech.co.uk.
