Reigning double Renault UK Clio Cup Masters Cup Champion Simon Belcher will step up to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship in 2014, having completed a deal to race a Toyota Avensis under the Handy Motorsport team banner.
The 39-year-old acquired the Avensis formely built and raced by Speedworks Motorsport, and will make the jump into BTCC next season having recently claimed back-to-back Masters Cup class championship triumphs in the one-make, BTCC-supporting Renault UK Clio Cup.
The team will be assited throughout Belcher’s maiden year by Speedworks on an engineering front, but Handy Motorsport will be completely in charge after completing a deal with Belcher that had been in progress for numerous months.
On his secured BTCC future, an excited Belcher commented: “I am absolutely delighted to have made it to the pinnacle of British motorsport in the BTCC, it really is a dream come true. We have been working on this deal for many months now and I am delighted to be part of the Handy Motorsport and Speedworks team for 2014.
“I am so excited to make it to this level, nearly 20 million TV viewers and approaching 400,000 trackside spectators makes the BTCC the only place to be. Alan Gow [BTCC Series Director] and the whole TOCA team have been very supportive of our plans and I can’t wait to get on track.”
Belcher will receive his 2.0-litre turbo-charged Toyota BTCC machinery in December 2013 before conducting his maiden run-out in the NGTC car, the Swindon racer further piling praise onto the series’ Next Generation Touring Car regulations which he felt he could not evade utilising to help make his step up to the main BTCC stage.
