GRP Motorsport

Silverstone, Northamptonshire



BP Skype Racing is the latest team to join the TORA SEAT Supercup, with a very late entry to the series. The team, run by GRP Motorsport, only took delivery of the car this morning before free practice, and driver ckBrenneke has had a busy day. We caught up with him earlier.



"GRP approached me a few weeks ago with the possibility of running me in the car," ckBrenneke explained to us. "I've got close connections with the team - my fellow BTCC teammate garyp3398 is the manager - so it was a no-brainer. I immediately said yes!"



"However, the car we purchased is an ex-Supercopa car from Spain, and the team we purchased it from wouldn't release it until the full funds had been transferred. For a while there, it looked like we weren't going to make it to the grid, but luckily garyp3398 managed to pull a few strings and got Skype onboard. The extra sponsorship money paid the remainder of the car, and we had sent a truck out to get it from the continent."



So the car arrived just this morning. It was decaled up by the GRP team, and then ckBrenneke took it out for its shakedown. But how did it feel?

"We're off the pace," he answered, "but that's to be expected. I found it a bit twitchy, but I will adapt - I just need to remember it isn't my Honda!"

And what does he believe the team's prospects are?

"Look, we know our limitations. We have just recieved the car. I really don't expect to be running at the front, but I intend to give it my best and aim for a few mid-table results."



BP Skype Racing

Run by GRP Motorsport

Driver - ckBrenneke

Main Sponsor - BP Fuels

Other Sponsors - Casio, Skype, Auto Express, Apple Inc., Logitech

ooo very nice
good to see you here Ck

glad you could make it to the grid mate...
Hmmm that means TWO of my team mates from two different seasons are competing against me now. What fun

Skype is an Official Partner of, Splash and Dash! The Official TORA Podcast!

oooohhhhhh any opportunity to advertise eh AJ?

AJzero wrote:Skype is an Official Partner of, Splash and Dash! The Official TORA Podcast!

Why do you think I picked them?

paint looks good ;D

Silverstone, Northamptonshire



The pre-race prediction of mid-table results by BP Skype's driver, ckBrenneke, looked to be true as he fought to get to grips with the car over the first three rounds at Silverstone International yesterday. Two eight place results, and a fifth in race three, saw him place eight in the standings.



"Yeah, it was fun," ckBrenneke told us following round 3. "Car was as expected. I was actually surprised we placed where we did, particularly in race one, where we earned a lobby second place. That was pretty good, but the lack of experience on the track with the car showed. Whenever I got close to AJZero, I'd lock up or drag the car wide at a corner."



"Race two was fairly sedate compared to the other two, fought hard for my position, but AJZero drove another stormer, and Selective Rogue won second from me cleanly. Again though, it was a decent result for us, can't complain there."



And Race three?

"Not so good. Got off the line well, grabbed second, but ended up out on the dirt at Bridge. Car went backward from there. Had a cracking fight with Richy59, fair play to him that we gave each other enough space and didn't put each other out. But once we were on the back foot, it was a proper struggle. Pushing the SEAT wasn't the smartest idea when I hadn't learned its limits, and that only left us falling further behind. But, it was still a fifth place result, so I can't complain."



So what's next for driver and car?

"Well, I am back with Team Halfords for the next three rounds of the BTCC out at Motegi, so garyp3398 and myself will be meeting up with jenson09 at the track within the next few days to get the car up to speed.
"GRP are heading back to Prestwick with the SEAT to strip it down and work out the kinks before Diamondback in a fortnight. It'll also get a new livery in time for the next meeting - the one the team applied here was due to the car arriving so late. It'll look rather different next time out."

Prestwick, South Ayrshire

According to todays Autosport, BP Skype Racing has had a setback in its assault on the SEAT Supercup competition as one of its main sponsors has pulled out. It is unknown whether the sponsor was BP or Skype, but the team has pulled the name from the entries and reverted to GRP Motorsport, the team who run the car.

In an exclusive interview, ckBrenneke confirmed the news.

"It's true that one of our backers has withdrawn funding. I am not currently at liberty to say who, or the reasons why. It is very disappointing, particularly for myself on the back of an awful Touring Car meeting at Motegi East.
"However, what I will say is that although we have lost this sponsor, we still have our other partners supporting us. In fact, garyp3398 has been on the ball with regards to this, as he has managed to bring another company on board with us. He set to work on bringing this new sponsor on board even as our last one was pulling the plug."

Although ckBrenneke was letting nothing go on who this new partner was, we asked him about how he sees the car performing at the next round, Diamondback.

"Difficult to say really. I'm still smarting from the antics of Motegi. I was twice turned from decidely poor contacts, once when I was contesting for the lead. I just want to get the car out on free practice this weekend and see where it takes us."

Autosport also reported the possibility that ckBrenneke may not be alone on track. Again, he was letting nothing away, but he did confirm that, withthe new backer on board, the money was there to bring another car in for GRP Motorsport.

Prestwick, Ayrshire



GRP Motorsport have announced Bosch to be their new partner, replacing the outgoing Skype. The team flew out midweek in preperation for this Tuesday's SEAT Supercup meeting at the Forza 2 Test Track, where they will be using the Diamondback configuration of the circuit.



"We'll be running ckBrenneke in the SEAT alone this week," team owner garyp3398 confirmed. "There have obviously been a few set-backs to our race prep midweek, with the news that Skype were withdrawig funding, but I am pleased that Bosch took the opportunity to sign with us."

The car will be running a largely unchanged livery, albeit rearranged, despite ckBrenneke's assurances that the car was carrying an interim paint job.



"Yeah, we had a new livery ready to apply to the car," garyp3398 confirmed, "but we had to scrap it with Skype's withdrawal. As such, we will be running the car in its current paintjob for the remainder of the season."

Driver ckBrenneke flew out to meet the team yesterday, and spent this morning putting in some laps around Diamondback. We caught up with him to see how he felt about the forth-coming races.



"Good, aye. Still not quite on the pace of some of the big boys, but we're improving. The car is very comfortable. It can take some knocks and keep going, and I can't fault the levels of grip, they're tremendous.
"Problem at the moment is the driver. Just can't find the confidence to go into some of these turns where the other guys are shaving off time at the speed they are, but of course, all that changes when you are racing in a pack. Having said that, we set a 1.09.226 as our current personal best, and I am convinced there's more time to come off that."

Tsukuba, Japan

Following a disasterous meeting at Diamondback Test Track a fortnight ago, which saw GRP Motorsport fail to make the grid in race one, then retire in race three, ckBrenneke has hit back by taking the reverse-grid race three win for his first outright TORA victory at Tsukuba Circuit, Japan. With the win under his belt, it has jumped ckBrenneke up the drivers' championship into sixth place.

"The car was great," ckBrenneke told us following the third race of the day. "Something just clicked with it, and once I'd settled into a rythym, the car felt very precise. I know a lot of other drivers in the series have been complaining about understeer in the car, but I really didn't find it much of a problem.
"I guess I actually prefer the naturally understeering car, as my Team Halfords Civic is set up in a way that means it is prone to understeer too.
"But yeah, it did the job I needed it to do, which is the main thing. I just had to minimise the driver errors on my part."

Qualifying saw ckBrenneke miss out on an A lobby start, but he made the most of the first race by getting off the grid well and tucking in behind Selective Rogue to apply the pressure. However, after a few laps he put the car out wide and lost a considerable amount of time to the fast-lapping Project Reality Mod driver.

"Rogue just wasn't going to put a foot wrong in that first race, I could just see the car disappearing out of sight along the back straight with the gap getting ever wider."

Race two saw ckBrenneke start in second place, and straight away he was in the thick of it. The first turn saw ckBrenneke tuck in tight round the apex of the corner and come inside lobby-winner Selective Rogue. Unfortunately, the contact between both cars led ckBrenneke to start the slippery slope backwards through the pack.

"I first got a very cheeky tap in the back from someone that bumped me wide into the hairpin, then moments later as we turned on to the back straight, I was turned by the pack and put into the boxes along the wall. I tried to regain the pack following that, but against the caliber of driver we have in TORA, it wasn't happening."

That last-place finish led to a ckBrenneke pole start in race three. He again had a good start, setltled into his rythym quickly, and managed to hold on for the win. This was despite strong pressure from Selective Rogue, who spent most of the race pushing hard at the GRP Supercup's tailpipes.

"The team are immensely proud that we got ckBrenneke to his first TORA win," garyp3398, team owner, commented. "A lot of work went in to the car following the problems we experienced at Diamondback, but this win goes to show that the potential is there.
"I have to thank BP Motorsport Fuels and Bosch for their support over the last month or so, knowing we have such backing in place is very comforting for us in a time of severe financial difficulties, and I hope we rewarded them with some good TV advertising time."