The 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season looks set to be one of the most closely fought in recent seasons with a number of drivers capable of fighting for race victories over the course of the year.
Almost half of the 27 cars entered can realistically be classed as contenders for the coming season on an entry list that series director Alan Gow admits has exceeded his expectations.
Crash.net Radio caught up with Alan to look at the entry list, the TV deal and more – including the killer question of who would the boss put his money on for the season ahead…
Q:
Alan, how happy are you with the entry list assembled for the coming season?
Alan Gow:
It’s a great entry list and has exceeded what I expected this season. I expected maybe 22 or 23 cars so to start with 27 is fantastic, although they obviously aren’t all here today as teams are building cars late. It’s a great entry with a great variety of cars and the part that interests me is that we have 21 S2000 cars and only six of the old BTC-spec cars. I never expected that kind of ratio.
Q:
How surprising was that for you, as some people would have thought that that switch would be more gradual as there may have only been a limited number of S2000 cars around?
Alan Gow:
Unfortunately motorsport is one of the sports where the doomsayers like to get involved. I expected around 16 Super 2000 cars with the rest being BTC, but everyone has stepped up to the plate. There are S2000 cars around and there are teams designing and building cars – like the Lexus, the Honda and Vauxhall. There are products around and people can buy cars if they wish.
Q:
How pleased are you with the variety as well. The first round of the WTCC features four different types of car but in the BTCC we have many more.
Alan Gow:
I think there are seven or eight different types of car, something like that, and it is good to see. It’s the beauty of the regulations that you can build a car to local homologation – like the Vectra and the Civic – that wouldn’t appear in the WTCC. I think it underlines the direction in which we have taken the championship in the past few years when we announced what we wanted to do – and it’s worked.
Q:
You must also be pleased that there are probably more drivers on the grid who are capable of winning a race than drivers who can’t win. We appear to have some real strength in depth for 2007.
Alan Gow:
I think it’s fair to say that there are a dozen drivers or cars out that can win a race on their own merit, without any luck involved. Again, this underlines the strength in depth of the cars and equipment that they are using. They are very good drivers and those who have graduated from the Clio Championship and Cupra Cup have proven that they have the ability to do it and aren’t just here to make up the numbers. They have got very good cars and Mat Jackson is a good example of that.
Q:
In your role as series director, and also as chairman of the MSA, how pleasing is it to see people like
Mat Jackson, Matt Allison and
Tom Onslow-Cole who have come through the junior formulas, making the step into the BTCC?
