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MG admits lack of driver continuity an "issue"

Triple Eight Racing boss Ian Harrison admits losing both of the team's drivers ahead of the 2016 BTCC season has come as a blow to the MG-backed outfit.

Piotrek Magdziarz

Edited: Feb 3, 2016, 3:02 PM

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Andrew Jordan, MG 888 Racing

Andrew Jordan, MG 888 Racing MG6

Jack Goff, MG 888 Racing, MG6, & #77 Andrew Jordan, MG 888 Racing, MG6

Jack Goff, MG 888 Racing, MG6

#31 Jack Goff, WSR BMW 125i MSport

Fabrizio Giovanardi leads Micky Doyle and Mike Jordan

Andrew Jordan, MG 888 Racing MG6

Matt Neal, Honda Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R and Jack Goff, MG 888 Racing MG6

Andrew Jordan, MG 888 Racing MG6

Jack Goff, MG 888 Racing MG6

#888 Triple Eight Racing BMW Z4 GT3: Lee Mowle, Joe Osborne

#888 Triple Eight Racing BMW Z4: Joe Osborne, Lee Mowle, Ryan Ratcliffe, Dirk Müller

Although the new season is just two months away, Triple Eight is the only front-running team yet to name any of its drivers after losing Andrew Jordan moving to Motorbase Performance and Jack Goff to West Surrey Racing, both after just one year in MG machinery.

Despite being enthusiastic about his signings to replace the duo, Harrison admits that the lack of continuity is a concern.

"We will have drivers announced shortly," he told Motorsport.com. "I know who they are and I'm quite excited about them. We're not in a rush. [It will happen] in the near future.

"It is a little bit of an issue that we've got to deal with. We were very unfortunate to lose Jack Goff, but I fully understand why he's got to leave.

"He has been offered a free drive, so that's a really good solution for him. It's a shame that he's left."

Modest ambitions

Triple Eight, which has acted as the MG factory since 2012, has endured several rather lean years, having last sealed the drivers' championship back in 2008, when it ran the works Vauxhall squad.

"Obviously we want to win everything, but realistically, what we want to do is to be competitive and consistent," said Harrison.

"If you get to a stage where you're finishing all the races and you're reasonably up in the points, then you got a chance at the end of the year.

"We've got to remember that our job is to sell road cars for MG. That's what we here for at the end of the day as well as to win motor races."

The team has undergone some dramatic changes over the winter months, terminating its GT branch and moving over to fellow BTCC competitor Team BMR's premises.

"We've moved in with BMR because at the end of the day there's to many teams in British Touring Cars all trying to do the same thing, with the same equipment," added Harrison.

"We all spend money on the same things and we all run the same parts, so it seems a bit crazy to me. There's nothing to keep secret form a technical point of view anymore, because you can't redesign front suspension and you can't redesign any of the components, so you know exactly what the other guys are running.

"What we've done is try to cut our costs and join backroom forces with BMR. There might be teams down the pit lane that look at it and go: 'it makes sense, it's not a bad idea.'

"You're seeing it a quite bit in other teams and you're seeing it a little bit in Australia with V8 Supercars. Some of the teams formed joined ventures and are sharing costs, and that's really all it's about."

GT programme axed

The decision to form an alliance with Warren Scott's outfit has resulted in Triple Eight pulling out of GT racing for 2016.

The team ran a BMW Z3 GT3 for Lee Mowle and Joe Osborne in both the British GT Championship and Blancpain Endurance Series in 2015, but the duo's car will now be operated by fellow BTCC outfit AmD Tuning.

"The only reason we've done that is because from a practicality point of view we don't have enough space in the workshop," Harrison explained.

"BMR are quite a big team they've got a lot of cars and we've got our cars, so there's not enough room in the factory.

"Lee Mowle just farmed the cars off to another team. He will continue to be in British GT, but it won't be with Triple Eight."

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