In this next addition to my blog, I will be looking at the drivers who left the series in 2011 and finding out what they are up to nowadays outside the BTCC.
Of course, at the end of 2011, a number of the drivers who featured in the BTCC stepped up to the world stage of touring car racing. Team Aon opted out of the series to run their global Ford Focus in the WTCC with Tom Chilton being partnered with James Nash. STR and Tom Boardman also followed suit, as did former Silverline driver Alex Macdowall. The reasons why these drivers moved up to the WTCC isn't something I know personally, but all of them have had varied success so far in their WTCC campaigns.
There are other drivers that left the series, but didn't make the jump up to the World Series. Two of the biggest departures of the series were Go Mobile drivers Paul O'Neill and John George, after the team were unable to put a package together for the 2012 season. As the avid BTCC viewer will know, Paul O'Neill is now currently working for ITV4 and hopefully we will see him out on track again very soon. His former team mate John George is also currently out of a drive, and it will be interesting to see if he will make a return to the series in the future.
Another driver that seems to have disappeared from the racing scene is young Chris Swanwick, who partnered Rob Austin in the Audi at Brands Hatch and Silverstone in the final two rounds of the 2011 season. After his brief outing in the BTCC, Chris has struggled with a lack of budget and hasn't been out on track since.
The only other driver that has left the BTCC after the 2011 season is Martin Byford, who was drafted in for the second half of the season by the AmD Milltek squad. After the shock departure of Tom Onslow-Cole, Martin did a good job of filling in the driver's seat of the VW Golf. After he was unable to fund a return to the BTCC, Byford confirmed that he would be competing in the British GT Championship in a Lotus Evora, but he has not ruled out a return to the BTCC, as it all depends on if he can get the required budget.
Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment