Sport   Motorsport   Touring Cars

Andy Neate fronts new British Touring Car Championship team

By MJP Media | 9 January 2013

Buckinghamshire based racing driver Andy Neate has today officially declared his intentions to compete in the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with his own newly established team, IP Tech Race Engineering.

Andy Neate will drive a Chevrolet Cruze for his own team in the 2013 BTCC season

This much anticipated announcement comes following three years of Andy contesting the championship with leading race outfits, before making the ambitious step to establish his own team who are building a Chevrolet Cruze (saloon) to Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) specification.

IP Tech Race Engineering has been established with long term goals in mind and has started just as Andy intends for it to proceed in years to come, with engineering excellence as its focus.

Neate in the 2012 MG KX Momentum Racing MG6

Having commissioned elite World Touring Car Championship winning team RML to assist in the initial development of the base unit of the Cruze, the IP Tech Race Engineering car is every bit the brain child of Andy, his engineers and designers. Benefitting from the highest quality technical resource available, IP Tech has tools at its disposal that significantly benefit the team when it comes to the design elements of the car. RML have also been engaged by the team as engine developer and supplier with a newly designed unit based on the GM family block in keeping with current NGTC regulations.

Speaking about the engineering task ahead Andy says "What sets this programme apart from others is that this is entirely our car, bolts up. I'm fortunate to have some exceptional equipment at my disposal including the very latest fluid, temperature & airflow simulation software and clearly the expertise to maximize on the potential it provides. Put that together with two of the most respected and talented design engineers in the business, Phil Overall and Geoff Kingston, and a raft of seasoned professionals in the workshop then you've got more than a fighting chance of success. Not forgetting to mention the much sought after Hannah James whom will spearhead the growth of the team commercially".

Neate at Silverstone in 2012

One of the elements of every BTCC weekend is the fan involvement and Andy says "I'm lucky to have a really loyal bunch of fans and we're looking forward to showing them what we can do this season. It'll be good to see some familiar faces trackside come 30th March at Brands Hatch and we'll be keeping everyone up to date with our progress as we head into the spring".

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media