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Eurotech signs WSR team manager, keeps Martin Depper for 2015 BTCC

Race-winning British Touring Car team Eurotech Racing will field Martin Depper again in 2015, and has signed former WSR team manager Marvin Humphries to head up its race weekend operations

Ex-Tech-Speed boss Humphries joined WSR for the 2014 season and helped guide Dick Bennetts' squad to the drivers' title with Colin Turkington, as well as the teams' championship and both independents' honours.

The appointment of Humphries reduces the race weekend role of team founder Mike Jordan, whose son Andrew won the 2013 BTCC title with Eurotech but has left to join the Triple Eight-run MG operation this year.

Eurotech part-owner Jeff Smith, who returned to the team as a shareholder at the end of last year and will partner Depper in 2015, said the intention was to minimise the impact of Jordan Sr stepping back.

"That was the train of thought behind it," he told AUTOSPORT. "It shows we are serious.

"Ever since I've been at this level I've wanted to win. It's certainly taken a little bit longer than I anticipated to get back up to speed but I'd like to be pushing regularly for top 10s and podiums.

"There's no hiding. We know how good the car is."

Smith's best BTCC finish is second while Depper scored just 14 points last year on his way to 23rd in the points.

AUTOSPORT says
Scott Mitchell, BTCC correspondent
(@Scottmitchell89)

By the end of his initial three-year stint with Eurotech, Jeff Smith (pictured below) had developed into a regular top-10 qualifier and podium challenger.

With only two rostrum finishes to his credit though, and the returning Martin Depper scoring just 14 points across the whole of last season, the team that was celebrating winning the drivers' title and both Independents' crowns 18 months go now lacks a top-line driver heading into 2015.

This season could be the most unpredictable in years, so Eurotech's proven Civic might well have been the car to have early on in the hands of a regular race winner, but title success is not on the cards now.

Smith acknowledges that even re-establishing himself as a top-10 regular will be difficult, such is the competitive nature of the BTCC grid.

That said, Marvin Humphries is a shrewd signing for the team, which has been one of the most endearing entities on the grid in challenging the factory-backed entries and established teams in recent years.

While the gap left by Jordan Jr will not immediately be filled, signing Humphries and Smith's renewed commitment could help firm up the team's long-term prospects as a serious BTCC operation.

But the Eurotech-run cars will stop being a feature at the front of the grid in the interim.

2015 BTCC LINE-UP SO FAR

MG
Andrew Jordan, Jack Goff

Honda (yet to confirm)
Matt Neal, Gordon Shedden

Infiniti
Richard Hawken, Derek Palmer Jr

WSR BMW
Andy Priaulx, Sam Tordoff, Rob Collard

Motorbase Ford
Alex Martin, tba, tba

Team BMR VW
Colin Turkington, Jason Plato, Aron Smith, Warren Scott

Ciceley Racing Mercedes
Adam Morgan

Eurotech Honda
Jeff Smith, Martin Depper

Rob Austin Racing Audi
Rob Austin, Hunter Abbott

Aiden Moffat Racing Mercedes
Aiden Moffat

AmD Ford
Mike Bushell, tba

Welch Motorsport Proton
Andy Wilmot

Speedworks Motorsport Toyota
Tba, Simon Belcher (Handy Motorsport)

Team Hard Toyota
Kieran Gallagher

Power Maxed Chevrolet
Dave Newsham, tba

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