Today the Directors of Triple Eight Race Engineering are pleased to announce the successful conclusion of negotiations for the sale of the shareholdings controlled by Roland Dane and Derek Warwick to their long time partner and co shareholder Ian Harrison. Ian therefore becomes sole shareholder in Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Derek and Roland also relinquish their respective executive roles as Chairman and Managing Director with immediate effect.

The sale comes at a time when the Company has established itself at the very top of National Motorsport in the UK having designed, built and run the all conquering Vauxhall Astra Coupe Touring Cars in the BTCC last season. With no less than six Astra scheduled to run in the 2002 BTCC, Derek and Roland feel that they are now able to stand back with pride and satisfaction from the Team that they have been instrumental in moulding over the last five and a half years.

However, both ex directors will continue to be involved with Triple Eight Race Engineering during the coming seasons in ambassadorial and advisory roles and are looking forward to seeing both the Team and Vauxhall win again in 2002 and beyond.

Derek said: we’ve both come to the conclusion that, given the scale of our other business and personal commitments, we were going to struggle to give Triple Eight the input it deserved in future. Therefore we are very happy to have been able to come to an agreement with Ian for him to buy the shares we control. This will allow the Company to develop further and for the excellent team of people therein to show their potential to the full. It has been a pleasure to work with everyone involved including, particularly, Vauxhall over the last few years and we feel very proud of what we have built up. Now we wish them all the best for the future.

Roland said: it’s been a lot of fun and very rewarding, but now is the time for Derek and I to step back. Triple Eight is the only race team to have seamlessly “bridged the gap” between the old Super Touring BTCC era and the current BMP run series and, having done that, we can now leave the Company to enjoy the growth of the BTCC that is sure to some with the new TV package. However, I am sure we will still be around to see our many friends in the sport over the coming season. Meanwhile, best of luck to Ian, the Team, Vauxhall, Egg and all the others who have assisted us so ably since 1996.

Ian said: I would like to thank Derek and Roland for their support and total commitment to Triple Eight over almost six years. They have been good friends of mine for many years as well as business partners and I know that I can count on their support in the future. We have agreed on consultancy roles for the coming years which will assist me in defining the future strategy of the company. Triple Eight is now a first rate Team of first rate people with first rate sponsors and I am looking forward to the challenge of maintaining the current level of excellence.

Dean Barrett, Marketing Director Vauxhall Motors, added: 'We'd like to thank Derek and Roland for all their hard work and perseverance in ensuring Vauxhall had the best possible results of any manufacturer in the BTCC. We look forward to continuing this success with Ian and the rest of the Triple Eight Team.'