MG-Triple Eight-Jason Plato. Sounds like a pretty promising combination for the British Touring Car Championship, doesn't it? The Chinese-owned firm will push hard to re-establish the marque in the UK; it just seems right to have Triple Eight involved in a works programme; and Plato will get his hands on a turbocharged engine after all the equalisation controversy of 2011.

It's difficult to know exactly what the team is capable of in the short-term. There isn't much time left before the Brands Hatch opener on April 1 to build the cars, let alone get them out testing. And there's also the TOCA engine that the MGs will use in 2012. Last year the Swindon-built unit proved solid, but was gradually left behind by the Neil Brown-prepared turbos in the Hondas and the Mountune engines in the Fords.