Steve Rider will anchor ITV's coverage during 2012 (Photo Credit: btcc.net)
Familiar faces Steve Rider and Louise Goodman will remain part of ITV Sport's team for the coming British Touring Car season, completing the broadcast team alongside commentators Tim Harvey and Toby Moody.
ITV will again be screening dedicated coverage of the BTCC, broadcasting from all ten 2012 race meetings, covering not just the BTCC headliners, but the packed support program featuring Porsche Carrera Cup and Renault Clio Cup action.
As well as partnering Rider in an anchoring role Goodman will also be interviewing drivers and other personalities from the pitlane, paddock and grid throughout the day.
“I always look forward to the start of the new BTCC season when we can start getting stuck into producing the shows – and, looking at the car and driver line-ups for 2012, this season promises to deliver all the drama, excitement and action that we’ve come to expect from the BTCC,” said Goodman. “It'll be a pleasure working alongside Steve once more – he's the ultimate professional – as it will the drivers, although one can never quite anticipate just what some of them might do on camera as I discovered last year! Having Toby on-board is also excellent news – he is a class act in the commentary booth and he and Tim will make for a great pairing.”
Rider is, perhaps, the most experienced BTCC broadcaster, having been part of the team in the 1980s when the series was first covered on BBC Grandstand. However, he remains as excited as ever about the upcoming season, which starts on April 1 at Brands Hatch.
“The viewers not only have a wide variety of car to look forward to but also, in 2012, the increased spectacle that the latest Next Generation Touring Car regulations will bring with turbocharged engines and flaming exhausts,” he said. “In some ways it's taking an element of the iconic RS500 days with their turbos and performance in the early Nineties – an era which people still recall with great affection – and adding it to the modern-day BTCC with its many great different makes and models of car. I'm delighted that we have Toby on board and, given ITV's incredibly strong commitment to the championship, this year's BTCC is going to make for compelling viewing on television sets up and down the country.”
“It's also terrific that ITV remains a genuine alternative for people looking beyond Formula 1 for another form of highly professional and exciting motor sport in Britain,” continues Rider, who will also appear on feature programs as part of Sky's F1 coverage. “ITV's coverage of the BTCC is something of a perfect marriage between high street motoring and the high octane end of motor sport. The championship always comes with a great noise and fury and this will likely be even more so the case under the new regulations.”
