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British Touring Car Championship news round-up

By MJP Media | 18 November 2013

It has been a busy few weeks since the end of the season so here is a round-up of all of the latest confirmed news!

Artist's impression of the Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis

Double Renault UK Clio Cup 'Masters Cup' Champion Simon Belcher will join the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship next year after finalising a deal to race a Speedworks Motorsport built Toyota Avensis under the 'Handy Motorsport' banner. The back-to-back Masters Cup winner in Renault Clios is relishing the prospect of his maiden run at the wheel of his 2.0-litre turbo-charged Toyota. Handy Motorsport will take delivery of the car in early December.

While the Handy Motorsport squad will handle all preparation of the newly liveried black and yellow Avensis for 2014, the team will benefit from continued engineering assistance from the crew at Speedworks which built the NGTC Toyota. Christian Dick's Cheshire outfit will work hand-in-hand with Handy Motorsport, helping to develop Belcher's Avensis alongside Speedworks' own pair of Toyotas.

MG6 similar to the one tested by Chris Smiley

Speedworks team principal Christian Dick commented: "I am delighted Simon and Handy Motorsport have chosen Speedworks as their engineering and support partners for the 2014 BTCC season. Simon now has plenty of front wheel drive experience and has proven himself in one of the toughest one-make championships there is."

Elsewhere, a number of BTCC cars have been testing over the last few days with preparations for the 2014 season already well underway. Manufacturers' and Teams' champions Honda Yuasa Racing were running one car during an open day test at Silverstone, whilst the rival MG squad were also in attendance. It was Chris Smiley taking up the driving duties for MG KX Momentum Racing however, after he was drawn at random by team boss Ian Harrison to receive the test as part of a prize. Smiley, who won the 2013 Mini Challenge R56 JCW Class, called it a 'dream come true' and also benefitted from the expertise of BTCC race winner Sam Tordoff who was on hand to provide tuition at the home of the British Grand Prix.

Dave Newsham also tested the Team HARD. VW Passat

Team HARD. continued its testing programme, running in anger for the second time since the close of the season, as VW Passat regular Warren Scott completed many miles before a late off ended his run. 2009 BTCC champion Colin Turkington was invited to drive and provide feedback on the squad's other Passat with the Ulsterman getting the chance to sample another NGTC machine, having raced the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport throughout the 2013 campaign. This follows Dave Newsham also testing the car recently.

Finally, Aiden Moffat Racing have taken delivery of the Chevrolet Cruze they will be running next year and this is currently in the paint shop being prepared for a number of appearances planned for the car in the next two months.

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media