The media launch of the 2006 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship provides an opportunity for the teams and drivers competing in the series to show off their wares ahead of the new season. For BTCC supreo Alan Gow, it was an opportunity to reveal the fruits of another winter of hard work. We caught up with him to get his views on the year ahead.

After a hugely successful 2005 season that once again saw a variety of race winners and a very close title battle, it is clear that there are superb foundations to build upon for 2006. Something that Gow is not slow to recognise: “It was a fantastic year for [Team] Dynamics to be the first Independents to win the championship outright since about ’91. It just goes to prove how good the regulations that we’ve got in place really are…the fact that a well structured and well funded independent team can take the battle to the manufacturers. It gave a lot of encouragement to a lot of other teams that were considering entering the championship and it just goes to show that you can do it.”

A key element of the 2005 championship was the battle between the works and independent entries, which culminated in VX Racing being pipped to the post by Team Halfords. The same looks set to be true of 2006, with Vauxhall and SEAT once again representing the manufacturer ranks.

“Vauxhall have been in this championship forever”, said Gow. “SEAT, this is now their third year, and they’re great supporters of the championship and I’m sure that they will have a titanic battle for the Manufacturers’ championship, which is obviously the most important thing about their involvement in the championship. It’s too early to tell who will take the crown, but I can tell you that whoever takes it will deserve it.”

“An independent can arm himself with a car at a very reasonable cost and a very competitive car. As well as the Integras, you’ve got the Honda Civic from last year that won four or five races in the hands of Tom Chilton. That’s a lot of winning cars out there, and cars and drivers that are capable of winning races. I don’t think we’ve seen this level of competition in the championship for many years.”

Clearly the teams form an integral piece in the BTCC jigsaw, but they are little use without the all important drivers. 2006 sees some new faces, some consistency from last year and a returning former champion, all of which makes for a quite impressive line-up that is sure to produce some exciting racing over the course of the year.

Gow’s take on the line-up is equally upbeat: “We’ve got a great plethora of talent in the championship. You only have to have a look at the CV of the drivers concerned and it is hugely impressive, and not forgetting of course you’ve also got the rising stars behind them. You’ve got the Colin Turkingtons of this world and all the young guns that are coming up and that will be hoping to take some of the glory off the established drivers. We have a depth of talent in the drivers and a depth of quality in the cars that makes it easy to say ahead of the first race of the season that I think we’re in for an absolutely cracking season.”

Alan Gow also had plenty to say on the championship’s title sponsor, Dunlop, the impressive TV package for 2006, the RAC and much more. All of which you will be able to read about in part two of our feature, which will be right here on BTCCPages.com very soon.