Hawthorns goes Porsche
GT3 car for 2006 to improve on 'slow' BMW
 Hawthorns' BMW leads around Druids at Brands |
Hawthorns Motorsport has unveiled some of its plans for the Britcar race series next year -- and the team is ditching its 'slow' BMW M Coupe for a Porsche GT3.
The team said it intends to compete in the EERC Britcar series, supplemented with the odd British GT round and hopefully the support race to the A1 series, which this year was known as the Tag Heuer GT 250.
The team intends to race a 2004 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup car acquired from the successful Motorbase team run by ex-Tuscan team owner/driver Dave Bartrum -- terms were agreed last week. The car won first in class in the 2005 Tag Heuer GT 250. Moore Racing will prepare it and support the team as it did during most of 2005 -- the guys are eager to take delivery of the car.
The two main drivers will be Rod Barrett and Jan Persson, and this year they'll need extra pre-season testing in order to get used to the left-hand drive GT and its particularities.
Team boss and driver Rod Barrett said: "We have both spent many years driving Tuscans and last season we had fun with the BMW but she didn’t challenge us too much. On some occasions we were so slow on the straights that Jan and I managed to get through half a “learn Japanese while driving” course. We need to be challenged again, like we were in Tuscans so, whatever the Porsche tries to throw at us we think it will be kind in compassion to the monstrous TVRs.
"We anticipate what will hopefully be an exciting and fulfilling experience, Jan and I can't wait to get on with it -- our trophy cabinets are somewhat bare at present."
Co-driver Jan Persson said: "Dave Bartrum's Motorbase operation is there for us to seek advice from should we run into problems. Rod and I have known Dave for many years and he knows all there is to know about running these cars so we feel well covered at the moment. Moore Racing will have no problems getting to grips with the car particularly with the type of assistance we have available to us."
Barrett said: "We now have a car that can be competitive, so no more excuses about not having the power to get us into the thick of it, and despite our resistance to go the Porsche route, there really are few alternate options worth considering. She really is a cracking car and well proven in terms of her race history -- let's hope we can add and not detract from it."
Image courtesy David Lord
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