Q&A: Mike Ewan, Team RAC - EXCLUSIVE.

Having campaigned the venerable MG ZS in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship for a number of years, WSR will switch to the BMW 320si for its second season running under the Team RAC banner.

The car is more than proven on the world stage having carried Andy Priaulx to the 2006 WTCC title and the team will now hope that Colin Turkington and his yet-to-be-announced team-mate can repeat the feat in the British series.

Crash.net caught up with team director Mike Ewan at the launch of the new car to look forward to 2007...

Q:
Mike, it's the BMW for the team for 2007, how did the deal come about?

Mike Ewan:
Well, initially we were looking at running the MGs again, but once the rules were announced that we couldn't win the overall title with them, we were forced to go down the Super 2000 route. We looked at building our own cars but at the end of last season we decided not to do that and then evaluated all the available options running in the WTCC. From those, we decided that the BMW was the best route.

Q:
The car looks very striking again in the RAC colours. Are you confident of being right up there at the front with it?

Mike Ewan:
It's going to be a steep learning curve for us as obviously the BMW is rear-wheel drive and we have only ever run front-wheel drive cars in the BTCC. But it is already successful, very successful, in the WTCC and we are confident that we will quickly be on the pace.

Q:
The cars you have acquired, what is the history behind them?

Mike Ewan:
They will be brand new cars and we have two kits being delivered next month. We will then build those cars up in our workshop.

Q:
You've confirmed Colin Turkington as one of the drivers, you must be thrilled to have him back onboard for another season?

Mike Ewan:
Yeah it's great to have Colin as part of the team. He has been with us since 2001 although he had a year off with another team in 2005 [with VX Racing], so we let him have a little holiday. He is a big part of the team, very popular with everyone in it and produces the results on track.

Q:
Did he maybe exceed your expectations last season with the MG to keep it at the front?

Mike Ewan:
I would say he matched our expectations. He definitely didn't have the best chance during the previous year with who he was racing with and we gave him the best equipment we could and he did the job with it. He has really matured now, he is right up there with the best of them, and has shown time and time again that he can deal with the pressure.

Q:
We have seen the MGs up for sale, has there been much interest in them?

Mike Ewan:
We have had a bit of interest from Britain in them, but it now appears likely that the cars will be sold overseas and will be running in the Asian Touring Car Championship.

Q:
In terms of your second driver for the BMW, is there anyone lined up for the seat of are there still a few names in the frame?

Mike Ewan:
There are still two or three names in the frame and we aren't too far away from making a decision. We expect to make the announcement in around a fortnight.

Q:
Testing wise, when do you expect to hit the track?

Mike Ewan:
This car [at the NEC] is owned by a team in Sweden and we are actually talking to them about using it for some initial testing before we get our own cars up and running which will probably be at the start of March.