Having announced its plans to contest the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship last month, the Encke Sport team is now working hard to bring its programme together ahead of the opening rounds of the season at
Brands Hatch.
The new team, backed by Premiership footballer Peter Enckleman, is planning to field a brace of Vauxhall Astra Coupes during the coming season ahead of a possible switch to Super 2000 machinery in 2008 with discussions ongoing with interested parties about filling the vacant seats.
"We've had interest from a few drivers about the cars and it's a case of waiting to see if sponsor packages fall into place," team principal Ed Tilley explained. "We've been busy working on the cars to give them an overhaul ahead of the new season and they will soon be ready to hit the track and do some testing.
"While we are already talking to people, we are still interested to hear from anyone who is looking to make the move into the BTCC and are in a position to be able to offer partly subsidised drives if the right person comes along."
The two Astras, which run to BTC-specification, will be ineligible for outright championship honours but can still score points towards the Independents' title race which is open to both BTC and S2000 cars.
"Although we are using this year as a learning year, we have complete confidence that the cars will, with the right driver, be on the ball from the word go,” Tilley continued. “We did have several options at the beginning of the project, but opted for the proven race winning Astras.
"We will spend this year learning everything there is to know about the BTCC in preparation for our S2000 assault in 2008"
The new season kicks off at Brands Hatch on 1 April.
