Team HARD will welcome back Jack Goff to the series at Rockingham for the eighth round of the 2013 British Touring Car Championship, the reigning Renault Clio Cup UK champion returning for the final three rounds of the season.
Goff was forced to miss the previous event at Knockhill through budget concerns, but will now contest the remaining three meetings of 2013 with Tony Gilham‘s squad in the Vauxhall Insignia he last drove to another points finish and a top-10 qualifying result with at Snetterton in August.
“It’s great to have Jack back in the car,” said Team HARD boss Gilham. “It was a tough decision for everyone to miss Knockhill but we completely believe in his talent and long term future with both the team and in the BTCC.”
Goff’s Snetterton showing displayed signs of improvement in the Insignia and the BTCC rookie’s performances, the 2012 UK Renault Clio Cup champion agreeing that his season has turned for the better since the mid-season Dunlop tyre test at the Norfolk circuit and can now focus on making further progress in the final trio of meetings.
“It was certainly a hectic opening weekend”, Goff explained. “The car was obviously brand new and we’ve all worked extremely hard to keep improving it. It’s getting better and better and that’s a great credit to everyone at the team.
“I think it was Snetterton before we really felt like we were up to speed. The two-day tyre test before the event was absolutely huge for us as a team and for me personally as it was the first time I was able to spend that sort of time in the car. The fact that I was slightly disappointed to only qualify eighth there shows the kind of progress we’d made.”
Admitting that the decision to miss Knockhill was a tough one to contend with, the RCIB Insurance Racing driver remains fully committed to the series and not only feels confident of ending the current season on a high note, but believes that he can go into 2014 feeling more secure.
The 24-year-old added: “Missing Knockhill was quite hard to take but we had to make a sensible decision that would enable us to complete the last three events of the season. It was difficult seeing someone else driving the car to be honest but I’m back now and I’m raring to go! I obviously hope to be a front-runner in the BTCC in the future but for now it’s all about pushing for the rest of the year before coming back even stronger in 2014.
“The next one is always the most important and I love Rockingham – I had two pole positions there last season and it’s a really great. It suits my style and I seem to go well there so I am really looking forward to it.”
