FRUSTRATING DELAYS, BUT FINALLY TOM WILL BE RACING
After a frustrating few months, Tom will return to action in the BTCC at Thruxton this weekend. He also has an exciting new opportunity on the horizon.
There has been a lot of uncertainty over his plans for 2005, but now Tom can look forward to some hard charging action again behind the wheel of his Lego Star Wars sponsored Honda Civic Type R. Tom explains the events that led to his return and the new challenge that awaits him;
“ Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of up to date info on my website. It was due to the uncertainties I faced and was just as frustrating for me as it has been for all the people who wrote in asking what I would be doing.
I was looking forward to racing in the DTM series. It was a really exciting new project that the organisers and Zytec were putting together. It’s been reported in the press that it would be with MG and obviously the situation with the MG Rover group caused a lot of waiting and uncertainty. It is a real shame that the project has been stopped, or at least postponed, because we all felt very positive about the potential of the car. It was going to be a huge step up for me from the BTCC, loads more power, rear wheel drive and proper downforce. Being International as well, I would be going to race on tracks new to me, the whole thing was definitely a challenge, but I would have been prepared. Pretty much since the end of last season I have been working hard on the physical side of things. I have been on training camps with Bernie Shrosbree, my fitness coach, in Lanzarote and the UK and I went cross-country ski training in February. I think I’m even stronger, physically and mentally than any season before and I know I would have had to be to compete in the DTM.
The planned DTM program led to my contact with Zytec, who were designing and building the car. They have also built a successful Le Mans prototype sports car and won the ELMS round at Spa a couple of weeks ago with it. An amazing opportunity has come up as they have asked me to drive it next week at a two-day test at Magny Cours in France. After the demise of the MG DTM drive, Zytec have still given me a chance to show what I can do and as long as they think I can do the job for them, I will race it in the Le Mans series in Europe and America. I’m confident that I can do it, but it will be quite daunting the first time I pull out of the pits in that car next week.
Meanwhile I’ve got to concentrate on the BTCC race this weekend at Thruxton. Arena International who ran the Honda last season were also expecting to be running the DTM car, so with the MG thing gone we both have the opportunity to return to the BTCC. As neither of us were actually planning to race in the BTCC, the Honda is pretty much as it finished last season, nothing has really been changed or developed over the winter. We won’t know how competitive we will be until practice at Thruxton so it will be an interesting return. From watching the first rounds of the championship at Donington, it looks like Team Dynamics have the car to beat with their Honda Integras, but SEAT have been handed a weight advantage for this weekend and could be too competitive for everybody. We will have to wait and see. Obviously Triple Eight will improve their Vauxhall’s with each race so I don’t expect they will be beaten easily. The team and I got our Honda Civic going extremely well by the end of last season and I hope that it will be good enough still to be in with a chance. Arena have entered this years championship as Independents, but we will definitely only be happy with overall victories, that is what we will be aiming for. Without having done any testing, that might be quite hard at Thruxton, but we can’t stand still. If we are going to be successful in the BTCC I think we will need to keep developing the car.
Anyway, it feels good to know I will be out racing again this weekend and with the test in the prototype next week as well, it will be a busy time for me now. I’m really looking forward to it. “
Rounds 4,5 and 6 of the BTCC take place at Thruxton on Sunday 1st May and will be shown live on ITV1 in the afternoon.
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