Hello everyone and welcome to the latest news from ATR in association with Motorsport News.
Last Sunday hosted the third round of the TORA GT Championship from the Circuit de Catalunya. Team boss Daniel admitted before the event that Catalunya wasn't his strongest circuit and was just hoping to produce the same kind of results as Road Atlanta.
This event was also the debut race for the teams new driver, Chris Ford (Bli33ard). He produced a very solid performance by qualifying 14th on the grid and finishing the two races in 10th position. Daniel's miserable season continued after he was taken out on the fourth lap of the first race by CandymanCody. The stewards haven't taken any further action on the situation and deemed it to be a racing incident. The team have since accepted the stewards verdict and decided to continue on with the rest of the championship.
Sadly for ATR, it looks like they will be travelling to the Nurburgring without their team leader. Daniel has been suffering with a really bad cold and has shown no signs of recovering in time for the race meeting. The pressure now rests on Chris and Matt to produce a good result in Dan's absence.

Despite the mixed fortunes for the team on the track, there was some really extraordinarily good news off the track. Within a couple of days after arriving back at the teams headquarters in Devon, they managed to sign up a very well respected member of the TORA community to the team. American racer Louis Satterlee (Audisport Louis) has decided to accept an offer of not only driving for ATR but also help organise and run the team to be better prepared for any race series they wish to participate in. There was no doubt a real sense of excitement from both parties when the idea was brought forward. Daniel admitted that he has been trying to bring Louis into ATR for a long time. The deal doesn't officially start until Louis's contract runs out with STORM BMW after the European leg of the ISCC. But preperations are fully underway with ATR planning to run two teams of two or three drivers running the Lola Aston Martin. Daniel will be heading up the challenge in the familiar Gulf/Lowes livery whilst Louis will be in charge of the second squad in Tequila Patron colours. It's highly expected that the team's drivers are very likely to be Ben Chalk, Zach Casto and possibly Matt Hunter, Chris Ford and Conner Johnson (depending on their choices and commitments).
Here is what Daniel and Louis had to comment about this new partnership:

Louis Satterlee:

It's great to be in the team! Dan has been asking me for a while now to join in and now I think the climate is right to do so. Saw a lot of opportunity to have a couple of new challenges with in the team with coaching any new teammates that join in the team or current ones that wish to go faster, I know I'm not the fastest one here but if we all help one another, well that's what it's all about isn't it? There's a new car to learn, new people to work with so should be a great time no doubt!

Daniel Austins:

I'm extremely thrilled to finally have Louis onboard with our team. We have been great friends for a while now and I've tried for a long time to bring him into the team. But now that we have proposed this offer to not only drive for us, but also help to run the team daily and help our other drivers as well. I think it was an opportunity that either side couldn't refuse. It's a pitty that we can't start the working partnership sooner as he is still under contract with STORM BMW until the end of the European leg of the ISCC, but the waiting will be worth it.
I've been honest about the fact I've been struggling by myself to run ATR, but now I'm really pleased to have someone onboard who can offer the support needed to run a team. Another quality of Louis's is that he's a good team player and would do anything to help others. Now that we are running the team together, I feel that we can offer a lot more support to our current drivers Ben, Zach and Chris to provide the machinery required to help them be better prepared for every race meeting.
I have a feeling that we are going to have a very strong team and show the signs that we are gradually improving and becoming a larger team to challenge more often at the front.