Martyn Bell says he is confident of his chances going into the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and his second season at the wheel of the BMW E46.
Bell, who is set to announce his full plans soon, made his debut in the series last season with the Geoff Steel Racing run car and claimed a best finish of eighth at
Knockhill in his first season in the championship.
The popular 42-year-old also attracted a cult following during the campaign with the tail-happy
BMW, although extensive work over the winter has gone into dialling out set-up problems that hit the team during the season to make the package more stable and quicker in 2007.
“I'm much more confident about our chances for 2007,” he said. “Last year our car had no grip at the rear. Going sideways was probably fun for people to watch but all that will stop now – sorry! I'm going out there to be fast. We've gathered a lot of technical data subsequently and made a lot of modifications to the car during the winter. We're confident it will now be much more driveable and a much more competitive package. I'd just ask everyone to watch and our lap times will tell…”
Bell added that lessons had been learned from the first season of competition that will come in useful during the year ahead, with the team planning to test in Spain prior to the start of the season to ensure that the BMW is up to speed for the opening round of the year at
Brands Hatch in April.
“It was probably harder last year than we ever thought it would be,” he said. “The level is that high and we will be much more switched on for 2007. Our car might not run for the first time until Media Day at Rockingham but I'd rather everything was right than trying to hurry it up. Then we will go testing with Dunlop the following week in Spain which I think will be very worthwhile.
