For the third year in a row Stephen Jelley is a Team Parker Racing driver in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship. With developments to his BMW 125i M Sport over the winter, hopes are high for some good results in 2019.
After doubling his 2017 points tally last year, Stephen sees continuity amongst his mechanics and race engineer which may prove to be a comforting factor in regards to getting the maximum out of a race winning car.
Knockhill in 2018 was bittersweet for Stephen and Team Parker Racing. After missing out on pole position by just 0.023 seconds, Stephen’s podium opportunity was dashed with just a handful of laps to go when he was punted into the gravel by eventual drivers champion Colin Turkington.
However, not one to let disappointment be the overriding emotion on that memory, both Jelley and the team see the speed shown that weekend as fantastic progress and a goal to build upon in the new season.
“This is the first time in ten years that I’m going to be returning to the same team, with the same race engineer, and mechanics,” said the thirty-six year old.
“I’ll have consistency in the package and a car that has been vastly improved over the winter, which is very exciting for me. It’s all looking like it will be our best BTCC season so far. For a small team it is about building, and we’ve done a lot of that behind the scenes.”
Team Manager Stuart Parker also spoke of his delight at retaining Stephen for 2019, “We are delighted to be racing with Stephen once again.
“We’ve been together now for six years through the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and BTCC and he is truly part of the team. We know we have the ability to be running in the top-ten and once you are in that position who knows what could happen?”
