CATACLEAN & NAPA RACING UK
There’s more to the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship than close racing, recognisable car shapes and star drivers. Add in massive television coverage on ITV4 and there is a clear commercial platform for sponsors.
Look at the Alliance Racing Ford Focus fleet in the BTCC and you will see the name Cataclean writ large on the side. Cataclean, based in Liverpool, is the world’s leading fuel additive, aimed at helping to reduce emissions and improve fuel consumption. It has backed race winner Dan Rowbottom for close on a decade from when Rowbo was kick-starting his career in Renault Clios. When he made the step up to the BTCC, Cataclean came with him.
“We are more than just Dan’s sponsor,” explains Sales Director William Jones. “When we came into the championship, we had one car in our colours and we saw the benefits of sponsorship, but what we have worked on are partnerships. Dan now drives for Alliance Racing and the team’s umbrella sponsor is NAPA. We have worked with NAPA and now sell through NAPA’s channels, making our involvement in the championship more than just stickers on a car. We also have our colours on more than one of the Fords making our reach on television even greater.”
As the NAPA Racing Fords have stormed to race and title success, so Cataclean has gone from strength to strength as well. Back in July, Cataclean finalised a deal with BTCC sponsor Kwik Fit to have its product in every Kwik Fit centre in the UK, as the official supplier of fuel and engine additives to Kwik Fit. That is a big deal. Very big.
Rowbottom is more than just a driver, he is Cataclean’s brand ambassador as well so he understands the weight of the deal that has been signed. “This truly is an industryleading partnership. Everyone at Cataclean is looking forward to a long and prosperous collaboration with Kwik Fit. I’m extremely proud of this deal and it wouldn’t have been possible without our participation with the NAPA Racing Team UK in the BTCC and the relationships that we’ve been able to build there.”
That word ‘relationship’ is crucial in this. Don’t think sponsorship anymore, think partnership, relationship, networking. And it is working as Cataclean’s sales are up quarter on quarter, proving that not only does the relationship-building work but so too does live ITV4 coverage taking Cataclean and NAPA to a massive audience, enhanced this year by a global deal with Tik-Tok.
On-track, the Fords are having to work harder this season than last. They stormed to nine poles from 10 races whereas this year there are none, although three wins have fallen to the team from the first 24 races. That may not sound a lot but 10 different winners prove how competitive the season has been. Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK’s reigning champion, has bagged two wins as he fights for a record-breaking fifth BTCC crown and Dan Cammish won at Donington in August to underline that the Fords are on the money. Rowbottom, too, has been a podium visitor this season and is hungry to be on the top step before the end of the season.
Sutton may well end the season as a history-making five-times BTCC champion, but Cataclean has already had one massive result thanks to the BTCC in its deal with Kwik Fit. As drivers and teams take note of the Fords and their successes, other commercial backers should be looking at Cataclean to see how it should be done.