ITG & PMR form Technical Partnership
Power Maxed Racing has today announced the formation of a Technical Partnership with performance air filter gurus ITG.
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship is in rude health at the moment, with packed grids and a bulging calendar which featured some of the UK's most beloved circuits. The BTCC's stature and highly competitive nature make it the ideal showcase for those automotive specialists seeking to flex their engineering muscle, which is why ITG, makers of some of the world's most advanced induction systems, has formed a technical partnership with Power Maxed Racing (PMR) in the run up to the 2018 season.
PMR symbolise all that's good about the BTCC in its current guise. Established in time for the 2015 season, the PMR operation burst to the fore the following year, when Dave Newsham and Josh Cook were able to consistently punch above their weight using the team's proven, PMR-built Chevrolet Cruzes. The latter even claimed the respected Jack Sears Trophy for Best Rookie and staked a claim as one of championship's future stars.
The following seasons have seen PMR cement its position in the BTCC, with last year being particularly significant. The team fielded a pair of brand new Vauxhall Astra K NGTCs (Next Generation Touring Car) for Tom Chilton and Senna Proctor, with WTCC ace Rob Huff acting as 'super sub' at Silverstone. Huff even went onto claim the team's best ever finish, a hard fought 2nd overall on the daunting national circuit, just behind the soft tyre-shod Honda Civic of Matt Neal.
2018 sees PMR perfectly placed to build upon its successes to date, with Josh Cook rejoining the team to partner with Senna Proctor. It's a flexible lineup which mixes youth and experience, with many BTCC pundits quick to pinpoint PMR's potential as a race winner.
As for ITG, well, the induction experts have been at the vanguard of this sector for generations. Much of ITG's success can be laid squarely at the door of its commitment to clever design and manufacture (including its industry leading Tri-Foam system), but the firm's long-standing presence in motorsport at all levels is also a highly significant factor. It might sound like a time worn cliché, but cliches often ring true; everything that ITG learns in its drive to win within the BTCC is funneled directly back into its road car programme, and vice-versa.
Simon McNally, PMR's Commercial Manager, has praised the technical partnership between the BTCC team and ITG, going onto outline the origins of the relationship:
“We’d been working with ITG on some road car projects for a few months throughout the year, and found their service to be impeccable. Nathan, Richard, Paul and the team are exactly the sort of people we want to deal with, so when the season ended, we went straight to them trying to broker the right deal. The ITG filter is without a doubt the best filter for the Swindon power-plant that we run, and after some back and forth, we decided that it was no brainer to work with them.”
As if to underline the depth and potential strength of the partnership, Power Maxed Racing has announced that it is working on a number of exclusive “PMR by ITG” filters slated for release in the forthcoming months.
The relationship will be bolstered yet further by news that PMR and ITG will collaborate on an all new facility, the appropriately named PMR Performance Centre, which will give the public the opportunity to have their cars worked on and prepared by the same engineers that build and run the BTCC Astras.
“We wanted to deal with one company for each product that we knew we could rely on and produced the best products possible. Again, after looking at the competition there was no question that we wanted to work with ITG. Their R&D and engineering teams work on the same principle that we do – “If it needs to be ready, it’ll be ready,” which in top level motorsport is an absolute necessity.”
Richard Clews, General Manager of ITG, has also been quick to praise the tie-up between the two companies:
“We've worked with various BTCC teams over the years and have found the championship to be the perfect proving ground for our products, which is why we're delighted to have expanded our commitment to include Power Maxed Racing. PMR are undoubtedly one of touring car racing's ascending powers, something clear from their excellent results over the course of the relatively short period the team has existed. We're confident in our ability to provide the kind of induction systems and filters demanded of an outfit like PMR, and are looking forward to much shared BTCC success in the months to come.”
The 2018 BTCC season season will be officially launched at Donington Park on the 27th of March, with the opening races at Brands Hatch on the weekend of the 7th-8th of April.