Damn 140 characters!

Chevrolet have confirmed that, as expected, they won't contest the BTCC in 2012. I didn't expect to have to blog about this, what with is being totally as I had expected, and in my opinion, no big deal. As usual, I summed up my feelings about it with a tweet:

Although I knew what I meant in my head at the time, it would appear that my tweet could be, and clearly has been, misunderstood.

I did not mean in any way to label anyone who worked for RML or Chevrolet on their two-year participation in the BTCC as lazy. Nor did I mean that the running of two ex-WTCC Chevrolet Cruzes didn't take any effort.

I used effort in a way that it often is in motorsport, for example when we say 'Ford's WRC effort', 'Toyota's new sportscar effort' or 'Chevrolet's BTCC effort'. It doesn't refer to the amount of effort put in, but is simply a way of describing a manufacturer or team's involvement in a particular championship.

And 'lazy' was just a term I used (without thinking anything of it) to describe the level of investment by Chevrolet UK, which was lower for their BTCC programme than it would have been had they needed to build and develop a car and/or engine from scratch. Which is exactly what they would have needed to do to remain competitive under the change in regulations in the BTCC.

So here is what my tweet would have looked like, without a 140 character limit:

"Chevrolet have announced on their BTCC Facebook page that they and RML won't be contesting the championship in 2012. This comes as no big surprise and had been expected. Their two-year BTCC programme had been fairly low-level, as they simply ran cars that had been built for their successful WTCC programme under the same regulations, rather than developing a new car. However, these cars had not been as competitive in 2011 with the increasing uptake of NGTC regulations in the BTCC. As a result, the team would have had to build a new car and engine for 2012, which would have required more investment from Chevrolet alongside their successful WTCC programme. Therefore, Chevrolet and RML remaining in the BTCC was unrealistic and unlikely."

As I have explained in response to questions about my tweet, Chevrolet's involvement in the BTCC with RML for the past two years was a good thing and we are grateful for it. It is a shame that the situation with regulations mean they can no longer sustain a BTCC programme.

I felt it necessary to put this down in blog form in order to stop me from looking like some ungrateful fool who didn't respect the 'effort' put in by those at Chevrolet and RML into the BTCC programme over the past two years. Because that would be untrue. Thank you to both Chevrolet and RML, and best wishes for the future!