Adam Jones was one of a number of drivers to debut in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship in 2006, producing some impressive drives at the wheel of the Xero Competition Lexus IS200.
For the new season, interesting plans in the pipeline could see Jones establish himself as front runner on the BTCC grid in the first season for the Super 2000 rules.
Crash.net Radio caught up with Adam to try and find out more on those plans and also to look back on his first BTCC season…
Q:
Looking back over your debut campaign, you came into the series wanting to make an impression. How do you feel it went?
Adam Jones:
I think, like most championships, you have your ups and downs and unfortunately for us, we had more downs. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy when we came into the championship and we needed to find a door that was open to us to be a part of the BTCC and at the time, the only option available was to join Xero with the Lexus. We knew we weren’t going to win races, which is hard enough with a good car, but with one that wasn’t proven we thought we’d give it a go and do the best that we could we what we had. We had some good results considering the circumstances with the performance of the Lexus, but there was disappointment in other ways that we failed to get the consistency.
Q:
What would have been your highlight from that first season in the BTCC?
Adam Jones:
There are two ways of looking at it. The highest point would have been scoring the first point at
Donington Park and the highest ‘moment’ would be when I launched off the barrier at
Silverstone in practice!!
Q:
Do you feel you achieved what you wanting from the year in terms of making people aware of who you were, when maybe they didn’t know because your recent racing had been outside the UK?
Adam Jones:
I think we got what we wanted to a point. The results were never going to come like I was used to in GT racing, obviously I’ve done that for a number of years and had had some very good results. I’d done as much as I could with that side of my career and wanted to make a change and the BTCC door was open, we came into it and have got some good publicity from it. We have had to make a bit of a name for ourselves in the UK because I’ve spent so much time abroad; I’m a British driver who has spent time in every country you can imagine apart from the one I live in. Putting the performance of the car to one side, we had to maximise it in other ways and in terms of publicity and ‘the show’ as Alan Gow calls it, it has set us up well for 2007.
Q:
As a new driver, how welcomed were you made to feel by Alan Gow and his team?
Adam Jones:
I honestly can’t knock anything or anyone involved with the BTCC. They are like a big family who welcome you with open arms and other drivers will tell you the same. Me and Mike Jordan have both said that you can’t compare this championship to anything else, there is nothing else out there that is more welcoming from a sponsor point of view, from a driver point of view, from a team point of view – there is nothing to compare to it. In regards to Alan and his team within the BTCC, they have done a phenomenal job and you can understand why they figures continue to grow and grow each year because of what they do and the effort they put in. They want to make it work and it works for itself because it is such a great show and it is fantastic to be part of it.
Q:
Looking ahead to 2007 now, I understand there are interesting plans lined up that you can only say so much about at the moment, but how excited are you by what is in place?
