BWM NEW BOYS

Two new faces will be joining the BMW team in the FIA ETCC this season, with British driver Andy Priaulx driving the RBM-run car for BMW Great Britain, and Antonio Garcia, from Spain, joining BMW Team Italy Spain, alongside reigning Champion Fabrizio Giovanardi.

ANTONIO GARCIA

Born : 5th June 1980, Madrid
Nationality : Spanish
Career Highlights :
1994 : World Karting Champion
1997 : European Karting Champion
2000 : Open Telefonica Champion
2001 : F3000 Championship; FIA GT Championship with RWS Motorsport (1st N-GT, Proximus 24 Hours of Spa ; pole position at Estoril)
2002 : 5th, World Series by Nissan. FIA GT Championship with RWS Motorsport , 2 pole positions, 3 podiums

Antonio Garcia will be moving into touring cars after two years of combining single-seaters with the FIA GT Championship. “It was not a difficult decision to make,” Antonio explained. “Every year, it has been more difficult to get a good single-seater drive. So when the opportunity came up to sign for BMW, I did not want to let that opportunity pass.”

The 22-year old Spaniard was impressed with his new team.

“It looks very good, and it is excellent to be racing alongside Giovanardi. BMW Team Italy-Spain will be one of the top BMW teams with a very good driver like him on board - and I really want to make that two very good drivers ! We’ll see. There will be a lot of tests before the season starts, which is something quite new for me. I don’t think I will ever have been quite so well-prepared.”

Garcia recently took part in the Michelin tests at the Italian track of Vallelunga.

“The car seems to be very easy to drive; it does not have much power, but there are a lot of very good drivers out there, all very close to each other in performance terms, and with a lot of experience. And the races are short, so I will have to get up to speed very quickly. The driving might be easy - but the racing will be hard. I hope that everything I learnt in GT cars will help for the FIA ETCC. The main thing is the actual race, to get out there and to fight to improve and go fast !”

“The test went very well, it was a good opportunity to learn how to drive the car, and to try the new tyres. It was not a performance test. I was relaxed, and improving lap by lap. We also pinpointed a few changes to make to the car, which will make it more comfortable to drive. I had a few problems with the pedals; I have to know what I want, in order to be confident by the start of the first race. For the moment, I do not have any clear aims for the season – just to be competitive from the beginning. And then we’ll see.”