January 13, 2013
Published on tags: Superleague
Woods Racing today held an event at their Southampton base to announce their plans for the 2013 season. The team lost Kieran Ryan and Boyd Bryson after the 2012 season and an eager crowd of journalists were gathered in the team?s conference room to find out who would replace them.

After a myriad of canapés had been consumed, team principal Ollie Woods stood up and walked to the podium set up where the press conference tables are usually placed. After pausing for silence he began to speak:

?Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to our headquarters this evening for the official announcement of our 2013 drivers. As I have said previously, 2012 was disappointing in terms of our constructor?s championship finish, as well as consistency with driver appearances, but we took many positives from the year, especially the improved consistency and maturity of our young talent Tom Parker. I have already announced that Tom will be driving for us once again this season; it is now my pleasure to be able to announce who will be driving alongside him.

?Our second Superleague driver is known to many of you - indeed, it was probably very easy to guess who we would hire. He is well known for his escapades in previous years, but in 2012 he turned a corner and impressed the team as a late signing for the Masters series. After he wowed his critics losing in the Race of Champions final to an impossibly small margin my mind was made up. Ladies and gentlemen, Teemu Toikka will be racing in the 2013 Superleague for Woods Racing.

?With the changes in driver rules for 2013 we are restricted to only one test driver. It was a tough choice as we had a few drivers interested. However, we?re extremely pleased in our decision; our test driver is a proven racer and performed well on the way to taking his first Superleague point last season. I have no doubt that his experience, team spirit and willingness to work hard will ensure our 2013 car remains well-developed throughout the season. I?m pleased to announce Ben Warren as our 2013 test & reserve driver.?

The three drivers came out to join Ollie Woods and pose for photographs. One by one they took to the podium.Tom Parker looked out over the crowd and began to speak. ?After a very successful first year at the team, it was a no-brainer to re-sign for the 2013 season and try and improve on the relatively disappointing standing the team had in 2012. We know this was due to bad luck and other circumstances out of our control and with a bigger family within the team, not to mention in improvements in both my driving and hardware, we are sure we will be improving on the standings in 2013.

?Having Teemu as my teammate is a great signing for us as the improvement he has had over the last couple of months is unreal and we are confident he will be improving throughout the 2013 season and who knows? He could surprise a couple of people before the season is out and maybe even in Melbourne in a couple of months time. Having worked with him for more than three years now we know each other well and how we drive, how we work and so on. So the partnership will be a very successful one for sure.?Having Ben as the team?s test driver is also a fantastic signing for us. Ben has developed well as a driver over the last year and his improvement was plain for all to see in the Superleague last season. Since scoring his first point in Monza last year he has come on leaps and bounds and having been working with Ben for almost five years now, our knowledge of how we work and how to bring the best out of each other is arguably the best in the league. It is this sort of teamwork we at Woods want to work towards in improving the team?s chances in 2013.?

Next was Teemu Toikka: "I am more than glad that Ollie gave me this chance at Woods. I was waiting for a new season in Supercup, until I succeeded in Masters, World GT and Race of Champions which gave me motivation and apparently they were enough to convince Ollie to hire me."

Ben Warren had this to say: "I'm delighted to be a part of Woods Racing for the 2013 season. I'm looking forward to working with Ollie, Tom and Teemu throughout the season, and helping towards the goal of taking the team as far as we can go. My time racing in Superleague last season was a very positive one, so I hope my experience can help the team head towards the right direction, and also hope I can help develop the car to give Tom and Teemu the best possible chance at achieving the results we hope for."

Ollie then walked back over to speak again. ?Many of you will be wondering whether we are doing the right thing in giving Tom the responsibility of leading the team so quickly after his breakthrough in 2012. I think that it is indeed a calculated risk but a risk that should be successful. We were amazed at how quickly Tom settled into the team last year and I fully expect Teemu and Ben to find it easy to be a part of the Woods family as well. When it was clear that we would have vacancies for 2013 I joked that I ought to bring together a group who are all friends anyway - it soon occurred to me that this would actually be a very good idea after seeing the camaraderie between members of other teams at the GPVWC day and everything soon fell into place.?That camaraderie has extended into the Supercup and Formula Challenge. After more rule changes for 2013 we looked into finding feeder teams in order to grow more talent for future seasons. We didn?t have to look far. I?m pleased to announce that we will be working with PB Racing in the Supercup and Velocity Racing in Formula Challenge. Tom and Ben will announce their lineups in due course. For now that completes the announcement - thank you for coming, enjoy the rest of the night! I?m off for more champagne!?