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British Touring Car team BTC Racing have ditched their pair of Lexus IS200s and will run SEAT Toledos for the rest of the season.

Bert Taylor's team have bought the machines from rivals Motorbase Performance, who ran the cars last season, and will have them debuted by Chris Stockton and Stuart Oliver at Donington Park in a fortnight's time.

Taylor said: "The whole team are very excited about the switch. The SEATs are proven race winners and their purchase was an opportunity we couldn't turn down. Running them will put BTC Racing in a very strong position."

The switch to SEAT comes after a disastrous start to the season in which the Lexus cars have been besieged by technical problems and completed only one race distance from 12 possible starts.

The Toledos, which won races in the hands of Jason Plato in seasons past, ought to see the team move up from the back of the grid.

"Although we weren't particularly successful with the BTC Lexus cars, they are still potential top 10 cars and we will be sorry to not work with them for the remainder of the season," Taylor added.

"The knowledge we have learnt from racing the Lexus has given us the confidence to move forward and we feel that this is a great opportunity to become even more competitive."

A bonus for the team is that test driver Gareth Howell has experience of the machines, having raced them for Motorbase last year.

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