The final three rounds of the 2005 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship takes place at Brands Hatch on Sunday 2nd October and in addition to trying to end the season with more race wins the SEAT Sport UK team will use the event to help the SOS Children’s Charity put World Orphan Week (3rd-9th October) into the fast lane.

As part of the WOW campaign to raise awareness and funds for the SOS Children’s charity work with orphaned children all over the world, SEAT UK recently sponsored a celebrity golf tournament at the Buckinghamshire Golf Club near Denham. SEAT Sport UK drivers Luke Hines and Jason Plato were joined by Karen Millen, celebrity love islander Du’aine Ladejo, Martin Hines and Lord Frederick Windsor at the event – with Luke’s team finishing third behind the winning Brass Hat team and runners-up Golf Monthly magazine. At Brands Hatch the three Toledo Cupras driven by Jason, Luke and James Pickford will all carry WOW logos.

The BTCC returns to the 2.623 mile Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit for the first time since 2002, which is the year before SEAT launched its current UK motorsport programme. It’s therefore new territory for the team, but SEAT Sport UK excels at new challenges – a fact convincingly illustrated at the last BTCC race meeting when Jason established a new lap record of 1:00.927 on the team’s first appearance on the Silverstone National Circuit.

Jason, Luke and James have all won races at Brands Hatch before (albeit on the much shorter Indy Circuit) and the Kent track holds special memories for each driver. Jason clinched the 1999 Renault Spider Cup and 2001 BTCC Drivers’ titles at Brands Hatch and returned there last year to celebrate his 150th BTCC start. At the BTCC race meeting on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit earlier this year, Jason finished 4th, 2nd and 3rd in the three BTCC races.

Luke stepped out of karting to make his full race debut at Brands Hatch in the 2000 Formula Ford Spring Festival. He finished 3rd in his first race and was voted ‘Star of the Future’ by Motoring News and ‘Driver of the Day’ by Autosport magazine. Last year Luke won his first BTCC race at Brands Hatch and having won his third BTCC race at Silverstone (and his first for SEAT) recently, he’s on top form.

James won £20,000 at Brands Hatch in 2003 by coming from last on the grid to finish 3rd in the SEAT Super Prix and then last year he dominated the SEAT Cupra Championship meeting by qualifying on pole for both races and winning the opening round. He also qualified alongside Kimi Raikkonen on the second row of the grid at Brands Hatch for a 2000 Formula Renault Sport Championship race.

Jason said: “There isn’t much else we can do right now except go to Brands Hatch and race as hard as we can. It would be great to end the season with more race wins and more podiums, and that’s what we plan to do. We haven’t raced the Toledo Cupra on the Grand Prix Circuit before, so I’m looking forward to doing that and although it’s a very fast track I think if we can get the set-up right we can race very well there. As for who I think is going to win the title, to be honest I don’t really give a damn. If it’s not me I’m not bothered!”

Luke said: “I raced on the Grand Prix Circuit in my Formula Ford days but I can’t remember it at all. The circuit has been re-profiled quite a lot since then, and for me it’s more a case of remembering to turn left at Surtees and having my stat-nav switched on! It was great to win a race at Silverstone and that has given me a lot of confidence. I knew I had the speed and the car to win, but it’s not been a very lucky season for me. Hopefully my luck has changed now and we’ll win again at Brands Hatch.”

James said: “I know the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit quite well. I’ve raced there in Palmer Audi and Formula Renault and did the SEAT Super Prix there in 2003. I was fastest in free practice, but Spencer Marsh took me off on the first corner in the race. I’ve also driven a Stealth GT car there – one hundred and sixty miles an hour down Pilgrim’s Drop, and the brakes were so bad that we couldn’t slow down enough for Hawthorn Bend and the car was withdrawn before we got to race it. I’ve had two second place finishes this year, my confidence is high and the car’s working well – so it would be nice to end my first season in the British Touring Car Championship with a race win. That’s what I’ll be aiming for.”

The final BTCC race weekend of 2005 gets underway at Brands Hatch with two 40 minute free practice sessions on Saturday 1st October, starting at 10.00 and 11.50, followed by a 30 minute qualifying session starting at 15.00. Rounds 28, 29 and 30 of the BTCC takes place on Sunday 2nd October, with three 14 lap races starting at 11.30, 13.40 and 16.20.