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Touring car stars shine at Autosport International 2012

By MJP Media | 12 January 2012

This weekend's Autosport International show at the NEC showcases the best of the world's motor sport from club events through to Formula 1 together with a massive display of the latest technical innovations and products.

Thorney Motorsport's BTCC Vauxhall Insignia VXR
Thorney Motorsport's BTCC Vauxhall Insignia VXR

Touring cars are well represented this year with stars from the British Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Championship and DTM in evidence. There is certain to be a lot of attention on the Thorney Motorsport stand with John Thorne showcasing the stunning 2012 Thorney Motorsport BTCC Vauxhall Insignia VXR. This car "looks certain to be in the mix in 2012" according to Thorne and "things are developing well in testing".

Also at the show is triple British Touring Car Champion Matt Neal with his championship winning Honda Racing Civic. Matt is realistic about his chances in 2012 in the all new NGTC Honda Civic. "There are a lot of guys out there with a full season of NGTC already under their belts, so it is going to be interesting!"

Tom Boardman's STR race team has the new 2012 liveried Seat on display. After a successful 2011 which saw Tom celebrate his maiden BTCC win at Knockhill, the future looks good. Tom is bullish about the new season as the car showed genuine pace throughout 2011.

AmD Tuning.com are presenting their new driver Ollie Jackson. Ollie is somewhat of an expert in the handling of cars - his daytime job being that of a vehicle dynamics engineer for none less than Lotus!! Ollie is really looking forward to the testing sessions coming up and believes the car can be competitive when the season starts.

Outside of the BTCC scene, two British stars are at the show in the form of Rob Huff whose Chevrolet Cruze was 2nd in the World Touring Car Championship and Andy Priaulx, Britain's most successful ever touring car driver. Andy is part of the new BMW line up in DTM (German Touring Cars). BMW have been out of the series for many years but are likely to be real title contenders in 2012 alongside current drivers like Mercedes' David Coulthard whose car is on display at the show.

Autosport International 2012 is open to the public this Saturday and Sunday. For more information call 0844 581 1420 or visit www.autosportinternational.com.


Ollie Jackson with the AmD Tuning.com VW Golf
Ollie Jackson with the AmD Tuning.com VW Golf

Tom Boardman's 2012 STR Seat Leon
Tom Boardman's 2012 STR Seat Leon

Andy Priaulx at the show
Andy Priaulx at the show

 

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