Former Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race winner Tom Onslow-Cole is making a return to the series with Team HARD at a Dunlop tyre test on the 11th of July at Snetterton.
Tom last raced for Team HARD in 2013 scoring three podiums with the Volkswagen CC. A car which was making its début in the series.
2013 was also Tom’s final season in the BTCC. Where he drove for both Team HARD and Motorbase after switching squads partway through the season. Since then he has been racing in multiple GT series.
With the cars having changed teams multiple times before returning to Tony Gilham’s outfit, HARD have been trying to find the sweet spot of the vehicle so that the team and their four drivers are able to enjoy a more competitive end to the 2018 season.
The perfect set-up is critical if you want to be successful in the BTCC. With a former race winning car as a strong baseline, inclusion of a driver such as Onslow-Cole to provide further feedback might be the beneficial data that the team so desperately need.
About this testing deal Tom said, “The appeal of the BTCC never goes away.
“It will be interesting to drive one of the new RML specification touring cars and see how they have changed over the last few years.
“I have always kept in touch with Tony and the team and the invitation to come down to help the team progress further was too good an opportunity to miss.”
Tom last drove a VW CC in the BTCC at Knockhill in 2013. Credit: btcc.net
Tony Gilham was pleased with this development coup, “Tom is a very professional and proven racing driver in many disciplines and so to get him in to work with us to develop the BTCC car with his touring car experience is a no brainer.
“Not only that but he has driven the car previously and we believe Tom can add a massive amount to our programme.
“It’s no secret we have invested a lot of time and money into the cars over the winter, so we need and want to find the maximum possible from the cars. It has been a tough start to the season and we haven’t achieved so far what we set out to do.”
Whether this test will open an opportunity for an Onslow-Cole racing return is unknown but he hasn’t ruled that possibility out. Tom added,
“It will be very interesting to see how we end up at the test and go from there.
“I’ll always have a place in my heart for the BTCC and would never rule out a return at some point as long as it fits in and around my other commitments both on and off track.”
