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Turkington and Plato finalise all-star BMR team for 2015!

By MJP Media | 17 February 2015

Reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington and former BTCC champion Jason Plato are to join forces at Team BMR alongside Aron Smith and Warren Scott for the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

2014 Drivers' Championship winner Colin Turkington

In one of the biggest announcements in recent years, the top two drivers in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship from last year are set to race for the same team in 2015 as reigning champion Colin Turkington and former champion Jason Plato sign alongside Aron Smith and Warren Scott at Team BMR. The announcement was made via an ITV Sport video in conjunction with the BTCC YouTube Channel which you can view by clicking here.

This will be the first time that Colin Turkington has driven a front-wheel-drive car in the BTCC since 2006. The Ulsterman went on to win the Drivers' Championship in both 2009 and 2014, both in a BMW and scoring a total of 32 wins behind the wheel of a BTCC car. Last season the 32-year-old stood on the podium at all ten race meetings, wrapping up the title in the opening race at Brands Hatch at the end of the season.

Jason Plato won the championship in 2001 and 2010

Turkington's closest rival over the past 12 months, Jason Plato, will now become his team-mate, leaving MG after two highly successful, if not championship winning seasons. .As the series' most successful race winner of all time, Plato scored six wins in 2014, moving his incredible tally to 88 and ensuring that for the ninth season in succession that the series stalwart was in contention for the title going into the final event. Like Turkington, Plato is also a double BTCC champion, lifting the coveted trophy in 2001 and 2010. The two drivers are due to hit the track for the first time in Team BMR colours at Thruxton this week before the season launch at Donington Park on 24 March officially kicks off BTCC 2015.

This announcement certainly shows not only the ambition of Warren Scott, but also the regard that Turkington and Plato hold him in as they put pen to paper. You don't persuade drivers of their quality to join you unless they rate you very highly! Colin Turkington said: "I'm delighted to be defending my BTCC crown with Team BMR. Getting behind the wheel of the Volkswagen is a fresh challenge after seven seasons in rear wheel drive machinery. I know that I'll need to work harder than ever to get up to speed, but I'm extremely motivated to succeed. Team BMR is still a relatively young outfit in the BTCC, however there is a strong team of experienced personnel behind the scenes working incredibly hard to make sure we can challenge at the front from the off. The collective ambition, motivation and hunger to win made this the perfect opportunity for me."

Aron Smith on the top step of the podium at Oulton Park last year

Jason Plato said: "The decision for me to get involved with the outfit just became easier and easier. It's a fantastic team of people, it's well funded and it has the right ingredients to bake the best cake there is! It's something quite serious that Warren has put together, he's not playing games. The driver line-up is right up there (with any I've been in), we've got two heavyweights in the same team from a technical point of view and the two guys who were the focus last year on track. I think it's going to be amazing. The performance push that both of us will give will help everybody."

Warren Scott said: "I am eager to get started on what will be a very exciting year ahead of us in the BTCC, with the strong driver line-up that we have in place along with a superb team of engineers, mechanics and other members of the Team BMR family, I feel confident that we have the potential to be championship contenders in 2015."

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media