Airwaves Racing celebrate at Brands Hatch
It’s always special to start the season at Brands Hatch and we always want to do well at our home circuit. For me it was a bit of a pressure release and it was great to get some strong results.
Mat did a superb a job at Brands and I’m sure he will keep doing a superb job, which vindicates my decision to nail him down as early as possible last year to stay with us and not let him go and drive one of those Chevrolets.
As for the cars…the decision to change from BMW to Ford was a big one and it was done in the deepest, darkest part of winter, so you come out wondering if you’ve done the right thing. Mat proved that we have.
To be leading the Independent drivers’ championship, second in the overall championship and leading the Independents teams’ championship is a sensational start to the season. We’ve got a nice warm glow about where we are and what we think we can do going forwards.
I’d said before that it was a difficult decision for me personally to go away from the BMW, because it was a very good car to us. It’s funny – it’s partly the fault of Mat and his dad that we picked the BMWs originally. We sat down with them at the end of ’07 when I’d had just about enough of the SEAT and I said, ‘do you know, I’m going to go and get some BMWs’.
So it was a big decision for us to switch to the Fords. There’s been a lot of hype saying it’s back to my old days. Well, yes it is, but it’s about winning races for Motorbase and for Motorbase’s sponsors. Our partners are very important to us and if we had stuck with the BMWs, we were going to be struggling.
It was the right decision to start stronger with the Fords for 2011 – the little red devils as I like to call them.
We have to aim to spend the whole season doing the same as we did at Brands. Last year we went down to Thruxton and got our first 1-2, which was great, but deep down, I knew we were going to struggle as the season went on – particularly in the second half of the season. We had a few good results, but it wasn’t consistent.
These little red devils give you the feeling they can do it every race. Going forward, it gives us, as a team, the feeling that come the end of the season, we’ll be right up there fighting for the championship.
I’d love to go into the final rounds as one of a few that could win the title – one of Alan Gow’s classic touring car finishes…
Tags: Airwaves Racing, brands hatch, btcc, BTCC 2011, David Bartrum, Motorbase Performance
