Charlie Butler-Henderson – A Sureterm success? - 24/03/04

Charlie Butler-Henderson makes the move up to the BTCC with GA Motorsports in 2004. The 25 year-old will pilot one of the team’s Vauxhall Astra Coupés alongside Paul Wallace and Carl Breeze under the Team Sureterm banner.

Having competed in the UK Renault Clio Cup last year, as well as British GT Championship and Caterham Superlight races in past years, CB-H is not short of experience, but the BTCC is likely to prove his biggest challenge yet.

“I hope it’s different to the Clios”, he said. “Hopefully people don’t smash you up as much as they do in the Clios! I think [the stewards] are a lot tougher on that in touring cars with stricter laws and fines.”

On driving alongside some of the biggest names in British motorsport, Charlie commented: “I’m good friends with James Thompson and Matt Neal and it’s really weird to be stood out there having a photo taken with them. It’s like ‘this is big time!’ So that’s exciting, but I’m just going to keep my head down and get stuck in. I’m not parading round the pitlane, walking around being all cocky. I’m just going to get on with it and hopefully my times and results will get people talking.”

Settling in

Charlie drove the Astra for the first time at Donington towards the end of last year, and more recently at Thruxton. Getting to know the GA team has not been a problem: “I’m working well with the lads at GA. They’re very abusive and give you a lot of grief but it keeps you on your toes. It’s a constant wind-up the whole time. I’ve spent a lot of time down with the team and I feel part of it now. We didn’t get to go to Spain like they did last year but they didn’t know the car like they do now a year ago.”

“Paul [Wallace] and I have been fairly evenly matched in the testing we’ve done so far. When we were at Silverstone we were concentrating on just putting in some mileage. I’m getting used to the car now and I’m getting to know how it reacts to changes we make.”

A plug for the sponsor

Stepping up to the BTCC with Charlie is his sponsor from last year, Sureterm Direct. The company takes on title sponsorship of the GA Motorsports team this year, and Charlie has nothing but praise for them: “Sureterm Direct – what a company! It’s a niche insurance company for classic cars, 4x4s, boy racers with a Fiesta that they want to put a V8 in it or something. Basically everything where your average insurance company will say ‘we don’t do that’. I’m very very lucky – the guy himself loves cars and he has about 10 or 15 cars ranging from a Fiat 500 up to a TVR Tuscan, a Ferrari, an M3 and all that sort of stuff.”

High hopes

We couldn’t let Charlie go without asking him about his hopes for the year ahead: “My aim is to be as high up as possible in the Independents Cup. Obviously I’m going for Independents honours or I shouldn’t even bother turning up. I want some podiums and some really good results. I’ll push all the way and won’t give up until the last lap of the last race. I’m not here to mess around!”

Related links:
www.cb-h.net