Team GardX Racing with Motorbase driver Sam Tordoff is to run a pink livery on his Ford Focus RS to add colour to what should be a carnival atmosphere at Snetterton for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship sixtieth anniversary celebrations.
Sam hopes that that the change of livery might also bring a change of fortunes for the second half of the season following certain bad fortune in the first half putting him out of contention from good points scoring positions.
Commenting on why they’ve decided to go pink. Sam said,
“We had such a great reaction to the JCT600 70th anniversary platinum livery that we ran at Croft in 2016.
“As soon as I had signed the contract with Motorbase to return to the BTCC this year, I was adamant that we should do something similar once again. The 60th BTCC anniversary celebrations at Snetterton seemed the perfect time to do it.
“We wanted to choose a colour that really made an impact on the track and also on TV. Bright pink has become my signature colour over recent years. My pink helmet attracts a lot of attention and comments – as you’d expect – and we wanted something special for the car, so it was a no-brainer to run with it!”
Credit: David Moore
With qualifying not an issue for the twenty-nine year old, he will probably be most people’s pick to be near the sharp end of the grid at the end of both qualifying sessions on Saturday. Whether the luck has changed on the Sunday remains to be seen, but with Snetterton being one of his favourite tracks, this is his best chance for a podium or victory.
“Snetterton is probably my successful track, especially in the BTCC, I’ve won there in everything that I’ve raced in and it’s one of my all-time favourite circuits.
“I took my fist Clio cup win there and also my first BTCC pole position and race win, so it holds great memories for me.
“We’re going into the weekend well prepared. The team clocked up a huge amount of mileage on the recent two day tyre test, so I’ll have the knowledge to build on that data.”
Looking ahead to the special double distance and double points race. Sam remains philosophical,
“Race 3 is going to be a true test to see where everyone’s cars really are when we’re not hampered by ballast. It’s going to be like round 1 at Brands Hatch all over again.
“It’ll be interesting to see how our car stacks up against everyone else, both in qualifying and the race.”
But there is one important question probably on the lips of most fans of the BTCC, will he be keeping the pink for the remainder of the season?
“It’s definitely going to grab people’s attention. Who knows, we may even decide to keep it!”
