British Touring Car Championship race winner Chris Smiley will be on the grid for the 2020 season after signing a deal with EXCELR8 Motorsport.
Smiley picked up his maiden win in 2018 at Rockingham and in 2019 he picked up three podiums in a highly successful BTC Racing team alongside Josh Cook. He will now partner Senna Proctor though in the new Hyundai i30 N Performance.
The Northern Irishman said that he is looking forward to driving the new car for the first time in the championship and despite switching teams, he has his eyes still firmly set at the front of the grid.
“I’m very excited to be joining EXCELR8 Motorsport for the new season,” said Smiley. “It is going to be a good challenge to work with the team and bring Hyundai into the BTCC as a new marque.
“I know the team at EXCELR8 have made an incredible effort with the new car over the winter months and have strengthened their engineering capabilities and brought in some very talented people to work on the project. Developing a new car is always a great challenge, and to do it with a brand that has a tremendous passion for motorsport like Hyundai means this is a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved to create something really special.
“The BTCC is an ultra-competitive championship and being a race winner in the series I know that I can mix it at the sharp end of the series. I fully believe that this new project will allow me to do that, and I am more motivated than ever to make this new partnership a success – not just for one season but as a long-term plan for us both.”
