Team RAC drivers Colin Turkington and Rob Collard were part of the football squad, which suffered a 12-3 thrashing at the hands of ITV Sport yesterday.
The defeat for the drivers from the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was of little concern as their Dunlop BTCC Wanderers team helped raise funds for the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home appeal in a fun charity match.
Alongside Colin and Rob were some of the BTCC’s top drivers – SEAT’s Jason Plato, James Thompson and Darren Turner; Team Halfords’ Gareth Howell; Fast-Tec’s Mark Proctor and Tech-Speed’s Paul O’Neill – who turned out for the event at non-league side Chesham United’s ground.
Colin Turkington scored the Dunlop BTCC Wanderers first goal just before half time. Colin said: "It’s always good to get a goal just before the break and I think it boosted our confidence, even though we were about eight nil down by this stage. I went for the header and I hit it as hard as I could. My theory was that if it doesn’t go in at least I might injure the keeper! Fortunately, it went in off the crossbar. It was really good fun for a good cause but to be honest we never really stood a chance."
SEAT race engineer John Waterman and mechanic Andrew Tracey – who joined the Wanderers along with Chesham’s manager and ex-England player Luther Blisset – also found the net. But the BTCC squad had no answer to ITV’s side, which included the channel’s football pundit and ex-Jamaican international and Wimbledon player Robbie Earle, reporter Gabriel Clark and match commentator Peter Drury.
Arguably Wanderers’ star player was SEAT Sport UK motor sport manager Scott Dennis –he had to be carried off the pitch by his fellow players when he sustained a knee injury while valiantly keeping out goal number 11 with a great out-of-the-box tackle.
BTCC fans now have the chance to win the BTCC Wanderers stars’ match shirts in a special BTCC.net auction that will further boost the appeal’s fnds. To bid for a shirt and the match ball and several official photos from yesterday’s game signed by the BTCC drivers look out for more details on BTCC.net Competition section on Wednesday 1 November.
Photos courtesy of Team RAC and BTCC.net
