Triple Eight Racing‘s newest recruit, Jack Goff, says he is instantly targeting a maiden win in the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship meeting at Brands Hatch after a solid introduction to the sport’s most successful outfit.
The 24-year-old secured the second MG seat in February for the coming BTCC season, after two years racing Vauxhall Insignia and Volkswagen CC machinery since winning the 2012 Renault UK Clio Cup.
The livery of his #31 MG6 GT was revealed at Donington Park on Tuesday (24 March) during the BTCC’s official media day, after which Goff spoke of the achievement of securing a factory drive with the current Manufacturers’ title holders.
“It’s like Christmas has come again hasn’t it?” Goff told The Checkered Flag at the Leicester circuit.
“In January, I didn’t have a drive sorted. I spoke to H (Ian Harrison) at Triple Eight, then we worked at it and got the deal put together in February.
“It’s the opportunity we’ve been waiting for, so now I need to go out there and do the best job that I can.”
Goff ended Tuesday’s four-hour media day test an encouraging fifth ahead of his new team-mate Andrew Jordan, also making a dramatic switch to the MG squad having raced for Eurotech Racing since 2010.
Photo: Craig McAllister
The former says that he and 2013 champion Jordan already have a good inter-team relationship, saying: “Me and Andy are working well – we’ve got a good banter-filled relationship already. That’s important so it’s all good.”
A first win has proved elusive for Goff since joining the BTCC foray in 2013, narrowly denied victory by Gordon Shedden at a damp Brands Hatch GP finale that season. The same venue will mark Goff’s Triple Eight debut on Easter weekend, where expectations are high and the youngster says his ambition is to break his victory duck.
“That’s the plan”, he adds. “I want to try and go to Brands and be fighting for podiums straight away.
“After that, wins, why not? Let’s go for it I say.”
The MG6 GT last season was in the reliable hands of vice-champion Jason Plato, who departed Triple Eight for BMR Racing along with engineers from his side of the garage. Goff says that the experience of the double champion and the Manufacturers’ Championship holders has instantly provided a strong base to work with, insisting that big improvements have been made in preparation for the new season.
“It’s been really good, I’m still getting used to the car and everything because it’s all new to me”, added Goff, who last competed for the manufacturer in the 2009 MG Trophy in an MG ZR.
Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
“We’re as quick as anybody else and, as you can see today, we’re right up there so the car has obviously come a long way since Christmas. It’s made a big step forward, so it will be interesting.
“It is a new challenge yes. The Volkswagen will now be exactly the same as this because Jason [Plato]’s engineer has gone over to BMR, so we’ve got a set-up and just bolted it straight on.
Like many of the leading likes in the championship, Goff feels that there will be many rivals equally capable not just of victories in 2015, but of fighting for the championship.
The MG man said: “It’s going to be closer than anyone thinks. Obviously the BMWs are going to be quick, we knew that; the VWs will be quick as well, also Adam Morgan and the Hondas of course.
“There’ll be loads capable of taking it this year, not just two or three people.”
The Donington test result was somewhat inconclusive however, changeable weather conditions truncating the action late on. Goff concluded: “[The weather] lasted quite well, then in the end it started to rain which stopped us as we were about to try a run on the softer tyres.”
