Keith Cheetham, formerly Team Manager of multiple British GT champions, Trackspeed, joins Triple Eight with immediate effect to head up GT operations as GT Team Director, reporting to founder, Ian Harrison.
Just a fortnight ago Triple Eight announced former Trackspeed pair Jody Firth and Warren Hughes would join the team for the rest of the season, and the hire of Cheetham is a case of serendipity, as Harrison explains:
“When Keith announced in May that he intended to split from Trackspeed come October, we were naturally interested. As a team we have a fantastic wealth of experience, but that’s not to say it can’t ever be improved. Having won the team’s championship for four successive seasons amongst growing pressure and competition is no easy feat, so we contacted Keith about his future plans.
“About a month later we began discussions with Jody and Warren and the whole thing has been rather fortuitous. Keith will engineer the #8 car for the final two races of the British GT season, and take up his new position as GT Team Director.”
Cheetham, 30, began his career working on historic racers from the likes of Lola and Matra, before moving into historic F1 cars and then into the world of modern GT racing.
His time at Trackspeed saw progression through the ranks to the point that he ran the team himself over the past three years. The appointment is important for Triple Eight and Cheetham comes on board at a crucial time for the team, with the final two rounds of British GT and the final event of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the Nurburgring in the next four weeks alone, Cheetham is under no illusions about the challenge he has taken on.
“It’s going to be busy! I’ve spent time getting up to speed on the BMW and looking at the data and I just want to get to the first race weekend. Hopefully I can bring some good calls and help the team get some good results before the year is out. We really want that first win!”
A maiden winter race programme will also see Triple Eight partake in the Gulf 12 Hours and Dubai 24 Hour races, and that represents an exciting opportunity for the British engineer.
“ It’s great to be going back to competing on the world stage; it was one of the reasons for joining the team. I also wanted to work somewhere I could learn from people rather than purely being the teacher. When Ian got in touch, I listened. Triple Eight is a well-established team with a very good background and plenty of opportunity. You’re only as good as the people you work with and I think it’ll be great to work with Ian, John (Waterman) and the guys.”
