Many motoring journalists get quite excited by Formula One, and with the new season just round the corner, there’s lots of talk about the rule changes and how that will impact on the leading contenders. Personally, I find it a bit the races a bit dull. Touring Cars is more my thing and it’s nice to see the return of Toyota to this year’s BTCC grid. The firm has pedigree; three championship titles fell to Corolla drivers Win Percy and Chris Hodgetts in the Eighties, while a Carina racked up numerous race victories in the Nineties. Erm…. yes. And that’s about it. The car maker is heavily plugging the Avensis-based Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC). Built by Bucks-based GPR Motorsport, it will make its competition debut in the opening round at Brands Hatch on 3 April. I’ll be there and will be putting in an appearance at my nearest circuit, Snetterton, later in the season as well. Two privateer teams – Dynojet and Speedworks – have so far committed to running an Avensis. Others may follow suit, or could wait to see how the season pans out before signing up in 2012. My feeling is Toyota wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t believe the car was competitive. It’s had enough bad PR in the last year with all the quality recalls. I hope it lives up to the expectation.
PS: off to meet the team behind the reborn Jensen tomorrow. More on that next week
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