Neate: I thought this was my big chance.

Former national Fiesta champion Andy Neate has expressed his disappointment at missing out on the chance to join Team RAC for the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season.

Neate, whose only previous BTCC experience came with a brief foray into the production class back in 2001 and a one-off drive in a Daniel's Motorsport Astra Coupe at Brands Hatch in 2005, was involved with lengthy talks with the WSR-run outfit as he tried to secure a place on the grid for the 50th anniversary season of racing but, despite going out testing the car, lost out on the drive to F3 race winner Stephen Jelley.

"I really thought this year was going to be the one for me and break into the BTCC in a big way," Neate reflected. "I put in a lot of hard work during late 2006 through 2007 to align myself with the required backing to approach the best teams available.

"With respect to the teams operating outside of the top four in the BTCC if you want achieve sustained success with a future in the sport positioning is key, you only have to look at recent success of Gordon Shedden, Colin Turkington, Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole to verify this.

"WSR were always going to be my first choice as I have kept in touch with Dick Bennett's for a number of years although I had some brief correspondence with two other teams. The negotiations with WSR were going extremely well leading to testing for the team over the winter, as can be expected working with a team such a WSR is a fantastic experience and it's fair to say it makes driving the car quickly so much easier. Dick was extremely happy with my performance in the car and indeed so was I proving I had the ability to be on the pace quite quickly."

Neate was offered the chance to join the team to run in a third car, although with the start of the season drawing ever closer, the machine wouldn't have been ready to hit the track until the Thruxton meeting in May.

With that in mind, Neate elected to turn down the offer to look for a full-time drive elsewhere.

"I must say with credit to Dick Bennett's and everyone involved at WSR, once the decision was taken to place Stephen in the second available car they worked tirelessly to try and get the required kit together to build a third car in time for Brands but due to many factors it was not going to be possible, they really did pull out all the stops for me," he said. "On a commercial standpoint a part season was not viable for me so I decided to forgo the offer. I will however maintain my excellent relationship with Dick and the team; indeed we have already discussed the way forward for 2009. Obviously there are other options on the BTCC grid to compete a full season but I do not want to go down this route,

"I will be racing in 2008 just not in the BTCC. I'm not bitter towards Stephen one ounce, he's a really nice guy and I wish him every success for the season. I'm sure he will win races this year. Although it was quite conclusive during testing my performance was every tenth as quick as Stephen I do understand the reasons a F3 and GP2 front runner with F1 aspirations would be chosen ahead of a Fiesta champion, motorsport is a commercial business and profile goes a long way. To look at the positives I know the decision was a commercial as there was no lack of any speed nor ability."