Bartrum: This winning thing is really good

Sat 23rd May 2009 2009 is the third season in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship for David Bartrum’s Motorsport Performance and it is quickly turning into the most successful. Racing under the Airwaves BMW banner, the team picked its first BTCC win at Brands Hatch – we caught up with Bartrum after win number two at Donington.

“I think the last BMW to win at Donington was in ’93 and it was a Schnitzer BMW”, enthused Bartrum at the end of the Donington weekend. “We’ve just won with an ‘09 Schnitzer car powered by a Schnitzer engine, which I’m really pleased about from Charly [Lamm]’s point of view.”

Celebrations at Donington

Bartrum has something of a soft spot for rear-wheel drive German machines so it’s perhaps no surprise that his Kent-based outfit has made a return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB this year, alongside its touring car commitments. The season is still young, but the signs so far are positive in both championships.

“For me, personally, touring cars and Carrera Cup mean the world to me and to get a win in both championships on the same day – I don’t know if anyone’s ever done it before. I’m over the moon.”

Collard made it look easy at Donington

“To go and get two wins in two championships – Rob Collard and Michael Caine – definite stars. Jonny [Adam] unfortunately had the touring car type stuff happen to him – shoved off, pushed around, hit in the side, got involved with Paul [O’Neill] which is one of those things. I can’t actually put it into words. This winning thing is really good – I like it. I like it a lot!”

Nine races in to the 2009 BTCC and Airwaves BMW sits atop the Independent teams’ championship. Rob Collard is second in the Indy drivers’ standings and joint third in the outright championship.

“I’m really proud of Rob Collard”, says Bartrum. “West Surrey wrote him off as ‘just another driver’ that was no good for them and here he is with us, year two – the second half of year one, he sparkled – year two he’s on fire. You can’t fault the guy. He’s a professional driver at the top of his game at the moment, without a doubt.”

The one that wasn't (or Jonny's Brands Hatch win)

Title contenders

“I would say Rob is a title contender. Rob’s mindset is that he’s a title contender and the team’s mindset is that he’s a title contender, as is the team. I don’t think there’s anything at the moment that you can see in his driving that says he’s not. He drives fair, he drives clean, he drives hard, he drives well. He’s put in some fast times, he’s doing some good stuff.

“Who’d have said that after race nine, Rob Collard would be tying with Fabrizio Giovanardi? That’s brilliant. If Rob keeps scoring points and we keep giving him what he needs, then it will keep ticking along. We’ll just have to see.”

Collard has come a long way in the BTCC. His small team struggled in the production class in 2001, before going on to win the Independents’ championship in 2003. His first two BTCC wins came in 2005, but he has already equalled that tally this year and looks set to go on to enjoy his strongest season yet.

Another job well done

Alongside Collard at Airwaves BMW this year is a highly-rated young driver in the shape of Jonathan Adam. The Scot has won both Clio Cup and SEAT Cupra Championship and is recognised as a ‘Superstar’ by the BRDC.

“Jonny just hasn’t had the luck yet.” That’s Bartrum’s view on Adam’s first few BTCC outings. “He’s learning touring cars - learning the ropes. We’ll just have to see how he goes, but I think that Jonny will be there very soon.”

“I’ve got to get the cars working together like we did towards the end of last season because we need to score points together. It’s going to get tight up there, but we’ll just keep going out to win and to get points and see what we can do.”

Weather worries

The win in race three at Donington came on a track that was wet at the start of the race, but a dry line was clearly visible towards the end. The rain had stopped before the start of the race, leaving the teams with a strategic decision to make in relation to which tyres to run for the race.

“For a BMW, it was a clear call, because you’ve got no choice. There was a couple of front wheel drive cars that were mixing with wets on the front and slicks on the rear. They can do that but for us, if there’s a slight bit of drizzle with the slicks, we can’t go anywhere. It was fairly straightforward, even though it was drying conditions.

“Rob got a good start, he did a really good job. He put a good couple of hard laps in first and Vaulkhard got involved with the Vauxhall which slowed things up a bit.

“He went off in the lead but I thought ‘it’s drying, the wets are going to go, they’re going to reel him in and it’s all going to get spoilt. He got his head down though and he built up a six and a half second lead. Then he was hunting for water to keep the tyres cool and it never went below about three and a half seconds.”

When the hard work pays off...

Pride

With two wins under their belt already – only Collard and James Thompson have multiple wins so far this year – Airwaves BMW look set to be powerful force in the 2009 BTCC.

“I’m immensely proud of our team”, concluded Bartrum. “I’m proud of all the boys and I’m proud of our drivers. You mustn’t get too emotional in motorsport apparently, but I do.”