Ant Whorton-Eales has Jack Sears Trophy success firmly on his mind in his debut Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season.
Last year’s Renault UK Clio Cup champion makes the jump to BTCC with AmDTuning.com, driving an Audi S3 for Shaun Hollamby‘s two-car outfit alongside Ollie Jackson.
The 22-year-old was confirmed at the the West Thurrock-based squad on Thursday morning at the Autosport International Show at Birmingham’s NEC Arena, a deal which he was delighted to seal.
“Everything sort of fell into place in the last couple of days”, Whorton-Eales told The Checkered Flag. “I’m just glad that we’ve got it sorted and we can concentrate on the job in hand.
“Five years in Clios felt quite long but, compared to others, it’s not very long at all. It’s good to win the championship and then move straight up to BTCC, so I’m now really looking forward to it.”
Whorton-Eales was optimistic about his and AmDTuning.com’s chances of success in the 2017 season, hopeful of breaking into the top 10 alongside his ultimate goal of being top rookie.
Ant Whorton-Eales – 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup Champion – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
“My aim is Jack Sears success”, he confirmed. “We’ve got a good car so if that goes to plan, hopefully we can move into the top 10 in the championship.
“In my first year that would be great. It’s good to have things to aim at already.
“They have a really good setup and when I went to visit their workshop I was very impressed. I see no reason why we can’t make it up to the front and hopefully later in the year get a reverse grid in our favour.
“I’m not expecting to be up there all the time, but I think we could have some really good results.”
Whorton-Eales follows in the footsteps of drivers such as Tom Onslow-Cole, Martin Byford, Dave Newsham and Mike Bushell in instantly making the step up to BTCC, something that he believes showcases the feeder series in a strong light.
“We’ve got a lot of competition, particularly in the Jack Sears Trophy”, he added, heaping praise on the UK Clio Cup series of which he graduates from.
“It’s good to see a lot of Clio drivers stepping up because it does show that there is the natural progression from Clios into touring cars.”
