TotalMotorSport All the latest Motorsport news, race reports and photographs from around the world. Alms, Touring Cars, Formula One & Le Mans 24 Hours

<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">SEAT CUPRA CHAMPIONSHIP</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">19/01/2004</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Neate Idea</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Andy Joins The SEAT Cupra Championship</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"><B>Neate Idea</B><BR> <BR> <B>Andy Joins The SEAT Cupra Championship</B><BR> <BR> Former BTCC Production Car driver Andy Neate is the latest driver to sign up for the 2004 SEAT Cupra Championship, where he’ll race a 250bhp Leon Cupra R sponsored by high profile IT projects company Ceravision.<BR> <BR> The 29-year old from Buckinghamshire owns Studio 3, a health and beauty spa in Aylesbury, with his wife Sara and is also an electronic RF consultant. <BR> <BR> Since moving from karts into car racing in 1997, Andy has raced a variety of both single seaters and saloons, winning races in both the Darlington and District Motor Club and Astratech Single Seater Championships. He contested the 1998 Formula Euro First Winter Series before racing against the likes of Formula 1 driver Takuma Sato and IRL driver Tomas Schecktar in the 1999/2000 Formula Opel Europa Cup. In 2000 Andy moved to saloons, qualifying 6th on his TOCA Fiesta series debut at Silverstone, while the highlight of his career to date came in 2001 when he raced in the British Touring Car Championship, driving in a Team CAM Mitsubishi. In 2002 he had brief race outings in a variety of cars, including a Stratos Evoluzione, which caught fire whilst challenging for the lead on its Le Mans Auto Italia debut at Brands Hatch! <BR> <BR> Andy stopped racing in 2003 to try and secure a full budget for 2004 and concentrate on gaining his helicopter licence. For his return to racing, Andy has former F1 test driver and ex-works BTCC racer Eugene O’Brien as his driver coach and mentor to prepare him for a full-out assault on the 2004 SEAT Cupra Championship title.<BR> <BR> Andy said: “I followed the SEAT Cupra Championship closely last year and really liked what I saw. Thanks to my sponsor Ceravision this is the first time in my racing career that I’ve had a full budget in place for a full season of racing, and without any financial worry hanging over me it will allow me to focus on my driving. My entire career, like many other drivers, has been hampered by the lack of proper funding and I have always had to settle for second best when it comes to choosing teams and such like. One of the big attractions of the SEAT Cupra Championship was that one team prepares all the cars and keeps everything equal, enabling only the driver to make the difference. <BR> <BR> “I’m only in it to win it and I believe I can win the SEAT Cupra Championship, I’m one hundred percent focused and without doubt should be regarded amongst one of the favourites to take the honours.”<BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>