Photo: ADAC Procar, Rob Austin Racing

Rob Austin Racing confident of Audi package

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New BTCC team Rob Austin Racing is confident their new Next Generation Touring Car specification Audis will be a highly competitive package, with one driver now in place for the season.

The team will compete with a pair of Audi A4s built to the new Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) regulations this year, bringing the total of full NGTC-specification cars to four, which will all be built by engineering company GPR Motorsport.

Team Principal Rob Austin confirmed to TouringCarTimes they will have at least one car available for the media day test at Silverstone on March 24th, which will be the first time the car will take to the track, with both cars certain to be ready for the season start at Brands Hatch on 3rd April.

“I honestly believe we have the best package,” said Austin.

“You ask any driver, and if he gives you an honest answer, rear-wheel drive is the way to go, especially with over 300bhp.”

GPR Motorsport’s background with Audi is what has made this arrangement with Rob Austin Racing possible, which has allowed them to go a different route from the front-wheel drive Toyota Avensis model.

Although the standard drivetrain of an Audi A4 is either front-wheel or all-wheel drive, because the car has a longitudinally mounted gearbox, the car will be permitted to run in rear-wheel drive configuration. This means at present it will be the only turbocharged entry to do so in the 2011 BTCC. All of the other rear-wheel drive cars are ex-WTCC BMWs, which are expected to run with normally aspirated Super 2000 engines.

The main concern for the team will be the lack of testing which is likely to hamper them in the early rounds of the championship. Austin pointed out this was an issue for all of the teams running with the new NGTC cars, with Dynojet Racing and Speedworks Motorsport still waiting to receive their cars.

The team have one driver signed up for the 2011 British Touring Car Championship season who will be announced shortly with talks in progress with another, with Austin confirming again that he has no intention to race himself.

The team’s engine development is well underway, with Ric Wood Motorsport building the team its own 2.0 litre turbocharged NGTC engines.