IT'S GOOD TO TALK

There's no better motorsport to cover than the BTCC, Louise Goodman tells Damien Smith

- Damien Smith

Louise Goodman doesn't do small talk. Well, she does, just not at British Touring Car Championship races. ITV's pit lane reporter and grid walker doesn't stop roving on a hectic three-round race day, when she's at the heart of the marathon six-hour-plus live broadcasts.

"It's full-on," she says. "I'm always absolutely drained on a Monday, because at no point on a Sunday do I get to sit down and switch off. If you've seen me in a paddock and said hello, I've probably walked straight past you, because I've always got my earphones in, listening in to what's happening. People must think I'm rude!"

In reality, Goodman is quite the opposite. She's a hugely popular figure in the BTCC, even when she's sticking a microphone up to drivers' helmets as they're trying to compose themselves minutes before the start of a race.

She first sampled BTCC life in 2007 and has been a fixture of ITV's superb wall-to-wall coverage since 2009. Having spent the best part of a decade playing a similar role for the same broadcaster in Formula 1, she has a wealth of experience to draw from - and drivers don't mess with her.

"They're pretty good," she says with a smile. "I had to miss [the meeting at] Croft this year, because I came down with dreaded Covid, so I sat and watched that one at home. There were a couple of incidents where they were a bit cheeky with Paul O'Neill, who stood in for me. He said to me afterwards: 'They wouldn't do that with you, because they know they would be in trouble...'

"ITV is the main broadcaster in BTCC, so we're a big fish in a small pond compared to what it used to be like when I was working with ITV in F1. As a result, drivers and teams are so accommodating.