MG enters BTCC with Plato and Neate

an artist's impression of how the new MG6 BTCC car will look

MG Motor UK has announced it will enter the 2012 BTCC Series with a ‘dream team’ of cars, drivers, constructors and sponsors.

Two MG6 GT cars will run in the all-new MG KX Momentum Racing team piloted by double BTCC champion Jason Plato and BTCC rising star Andy Neate.

The cars will be prepared by Triple Eight Race Engineering, one of the most successful constructors in touring car racing. And completing the ‘dream team’ are principal sponsors Tesco Fuels with their Momentum 99 brand and KX energy drink completing an all-British line-up.

MG KX Momentum Racing will debut at Brands Hatch on April 1 when the 2012 Dunlop MSA BTCC championship season gets under way.

The MG6 GT five-door fastback is the first all-new MG in 16 years. It is designed and engineered at MG Motor UK’s plant in Birmingham where final assembly also takes place.

Jason Plato is the most successful driver in BTCC racing history with 68 career wins, with more fastest laps, pole and podium positions than any other driver in the history of the Series. He is undoubtedly the face of British Touring Cars as well as being a well-known and respected TV presenter and newly appointed Director of the British Racing Drivers Club.

Plato said: “It’s really exciting to be involved in a brand-new all-British team and it’s just brilliant that the iconic name of MG will be back on the track.”

Guy Jones, MG Motor’s Sales & Marketing Director, said: “We are delighted that the new MG6 will be seen by millions of fans in Britain and beyond and this continues the famous sporting lineage of the brand.”

Triple Eight, headed by Ian Harrison, is based at Greatworth, just a few miles from the famous Silverstone race circuit. The company has more than 100 BTCC race wins to its credit. 

Jason Plato (left) will bring a wealth of experience to the new team

MG’s return to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship has been warmly welcomed by Series Director Alan Gow.Gow, who made the BTCC a household name in the Nineties and who has led it through another boom period recently – it currently enjoys some 120 hours of coverage per season on ITV – commented: “This is fantastic news for all the fans who follow the BTCC, either in their hundreds of thousands trackside or in their vast millions watching on TV in both the UK and many other regions around the globe.“MG is one of motoring’s truly evocative names so its BTCC campaign will, I’m sure, really capture the public’s imagination. This high-profile return to the forefront of competition in the BTCC is also certain to prove highly effective in terms of marketing for MG and all of its partners, as well as delivering some great results for them on the track.”

And added Gow: “This news has again underlined the great success of our NGTC regulations, enabling teams and manufacturers such as MG to embark on a major BTCC programme in a far more cost-effective and competitive basis than before – hence the reason we have such a fabulous diversity of makes and models in our championship.”