SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, Alan, um can I first of all just say well done for organising the warmest day of the year so far for the test day here at Brands Hatch?

SPEAKER_00 0:08

It's it's taken me quite a few decades to get here, but um we finally found the found the right window for the weather. It's been it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Tremendous high track temperature. Uh the drivers have been out now for a good twenty-five minutes, they're all trying the different uh tyre compounds, getting used to to being back in the car again. It's exciting, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Yeah, it is. And and with this unseasonally warm weather, they'll all be knackered by lunchtime because they've just come out of winter doing nothing. So I spoke to all the drivers yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

There is a real sense, and I know we sort of say this every year, but there's a real sense that this could be one of the most exciting seasons that we've had for some time, not least of all because of the new qualifying format.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Well, is that, but uh I think you've also got to look at the quality of the field, you know. Have have a look at the the depth of quality from front to back, or however whichever way you want to look at it. Um the quality of the cars, the drivers is is at a far higher standard than I've seen for a very long time. So so all throughout the grid you're gonna have great racing. Um so there's new cars, you know, uh great drivers returning, um, and everyone's really stepped up their game a lot. So um it it's it's really something to look forward to. I know you're right, we say that every year that this year's gonna be better than ever, but it probably will be. And and in respect to the qualifying format uh and the qualifying race, yeah, that throws another element into it. Not only on the Saturday, because you've got the race result from the Saturday setting the grid for Sunday, but during the course of the year there's another hundred points on offer. And and a good result in the qualifying race can not only set you up for a good position on on the grid, but can actually probably make the difference between winning and losing the championship.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Absolutely. It was interesting talking to the drivers yesterday, and uh most of them have sat down with the teams and thought, right, what is the strategy now for for the new qualifying format? And they all seem to be coming to the same conclusion that it's gonna tighten things up considerably.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

It is, but it'll it'll also depend on where you are uh starting starting the race. You know, if you're if you're starting the race in the first couple of rows, you're gonna protect your position. Um if you're starting that race further back, you're gonna be doing whatever you can to move forward. So so it'll be interesting to see how it works out. Um you know, it'll take quite a few races for people to work out the best strategy going forward.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

It's gonna be interesting. Also, some of the drivers haven't quite got their heads around it yet, and and at least one of them, I think, is the Oracle, who explained it all exactly to me, but I won't I won't uh mention who is. Who's the Oracle? Tom Chilton.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Okay, uh he will know it better than anyone else.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Listen to his audio piece. I've invite I I've advised everybody to listen to his audio piece because it explains it brilliantly, which is really good. Um now you mentioned uh how competitive it is because of the talent on the grid this year. Some returning drivers, Ricky Collard has come back. Um we've got different shapes of cars. Uh it's just great to see the saloon shape back in the championship.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Yeah, and uh I think that looked it's it it's funny the the way it goes. Everyone used to say that hatchbacks are the way to go, and then that they've fallen out of favour now. Yeah, it's uh a saloon is is a proper touring car. Um enough not to to to denigrate something like the Corolla, it's still a great car, but uh people are now gravitating more towards saloon cars. It's but it it it's very much the flavour of the month. A few years ago, everyone wanted to have a rear-wheel drive car. Now no one does. Um, you know, there's only one rear-wheel drive, but everyone was saying, no, we have to build rear-wheel drive cars to be competitive. Now, recently, it's we'll have to build a saloon car to be competitive. It swings and roundabouts. I'll guarantee you in the next three years there'll be another flavour of the month that that everyone led towards. Things go round and round.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

What goes around comes around, as they say. Talking about some of the new talent, Daryl DeLeon stands out for me. At the end of last season, he was incredible. He was very quick in Croft testing. And okay, we don't know what the setup was for Croft, but he was quick. He's got a look in his eye this year which says, I've got some time under my belt, this could be my year.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

What look, Dow's an incredibly talented driver, and we saw that when he was driving the Coopers. Um, you know, he was driving that better than that car was. Clearly, he was he was getting results out of that car um that that others couldn't. So he's he's obviously a very talented driver, and with 12 months behind him in that car, in the BNW, um he will be a force to reckon with. But um you know, you can say that about pretty much every driver out there, you know, with a with the exception of you know a handful of new ones or or whatever. But yeah, there's there's probably 15 drivers out there that are championship contenders, genuine championship contenders.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

It was interesting when I asked about aspirations for the drivers. They all want to win, of course, but a number of them said, Do you know what? I really want to be on that photograph at the end of the season that says I'm in with a chance of winning it.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Yeah, yeah, and and I'd be surprised if we don't go into the uh the the bottom part of the year, the last three events, with at least five drivers in with a genuine chance of the championship.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Absolutely. Um we can't mention everybody, but I did just want to touch on Nick Hamilton.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Um we're we're covering your favourites.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

No, the ones that I had very interesting chats with. We'll talk about the the main protagonist perhaps in a moment. But Nick Hamilton shaved, I think, two and a half seconds off his time um uh when he was in uh testing from what he'd done previously. He is on fire with with himself and and his attitude this year.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yeah, look, I'm a huge Nick Hamilton fan. I I like Nick as a person, uh I like Nick for what he's achieved with with his disability. Um and um he deserves to have the best seat in the house, and he's got one. You know, he's got he's got a he's got a car underneath him which he will be much more comfortable with and confident in. Um and you know, I I guess it also is it it's no excuses now for Nick, you know. But um, you know, as I said, I'm a I'm a massive Nick fan, and um it's great to see him in such a competitive car. And I think it's it was announced that he's got a two-year deal in that car, so that'll give him plenty of time to to to settle in, um, because you can spend a whole year learning a car. So it'll it'll be good for him. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

We should touch on the usual protagonists, obviously Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram, I think Dan Kamish is is going to be in the mix there as well, and and a number of others. Um it is still gonna be tight between those teams as well, isn't it? I think you know, Napa feel perhaps that now is their time to to take back the mantle.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah, look, uh Cream always rises to the top. So you'll always get the top teams performing at at the top level, and and it will have to it'll be the the usual uh uh uh uh mix, but there's plenty of others that'll throw a surprise into this year. Um the Toyotas, I think, are a better car than last year. Um the Mercedes, who knows how competitive that will be, but it it should be. Um and then you've got all the other new cars like the Audi and everything else. There's a lot of unknowns going into this year, um, which we won't really know how good they are for the first two or three events. Um but those can throw a surprise, there's no doubt.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

I think it's the uh the unknowns, the variables which attract the fans a lot, isn't it? I mean, in the uh in the run-up to the season, social media's been going mad, huge crowd at Croft for that test, big crowd here today. I mean the anticipation's incredible this season.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, look at the um uh Bransatch um had 10,000 ticket allocation uh uh applications for today, and they gave out 10,000 tickets. You won't get all 10,000 because free tickets they don't always use it. But even if you got half of them arriving, uh, 5,000 people on a test day is a huge amount of people. They had 2,000 people at Croft on our test day in in pretty crappy weather. Um uh I was at Truxton yesterday and they were saying their pre-sales for their event, which is obviously much later in the year, is is is at a record high. So there's great anticipation, uh anticipation around the championship this year. I don't really know why, uh, but but you know, we're obviously doing something right. We're we're year on year, we're breaking records. We're getting our crowds are bigger every year, our TV audiences are getting bigger every year, our YouTube followers, all that sort of stuff. All the all the the graph is going a bit like an ore price. The graph is is is just going up all the time.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah, which has a knock-on effect for the teams, doesn't it, in terms of sponsorship. You know, you can't avoid talking about money in motor racing. And I know the teams there's some new names coming in on the cars that I've seen, but also, even at this stage of the season, there's a lot of branding on the cars that are out there, which means that those sponsors are seeing this as a a good use of their marketing budget.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yes, there are, but but but you've also got to um counter that with the fact that you know we are in difficult economic times, no doubt, yeah. And the teams have worked really, really hard over this off-season to secure the um the the uh their their their commercial partners because it is a really tough environment out there, just with the geopolitical situation, but also just the economic situation. Um so you know for for such a quality grid to appear on the back of all that speaks volumes for the for the strength of the BTCC.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Absolutely. So, what are you hoping for from this year? Lay down something which we can check at half distance and see whether or not we've achieved it.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

No, look, all I ever want is good, close, enjoyable racing. That's all I want. I don't want I don't think anyone wants to see one team dominate, but we haven't really had that for as long as I can remember. As long as we have good, close, clean, hard racing, that's that's perfect for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Absolutely. Two weeks till we uh hit Donington Park, where we can sometimes get four seasons in the space of a couple of hours. I remember watching you ankle deep at one point a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah, that was terrible the first word. But uh look, if if we can deliver the sort of weather we've got today, that's uh that's another tick in the box.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

I think that's an omen for the season you bring in the good weather, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 10:44

I hope so, but um it's I'm really looking forward to it. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Alan, many thanks. Have a great season. Thanks, Dave.