Toyota Gazoo Racing UK return to happy hunting ground for 2021 BTCC opener
With just over a week to go until the British Touring Car Championship revs into life at Thruxton (8-9 May), Toyota Gazoo Racing UK have their sights set on a strong weekend to kick-start their bid for the biggest prize in national motorsport.
The 2021 campaign marks an expansion to two cars for the Speedworks Motorsport-run outfit, one for 2019 Independents’ Champion and six-time race-winner Rory Butcher, and the other for BTCC returnee Sam Smelt, who competed for Speedworks in the British GT Championship last year in a Toyota GR Supra GT4.
The team have completed a solid pre-season testing schedule, ready for the competition proper to begin at Thruxton, the fastest circuit on the BTCC calendar and the scene of a memorable double race victory for the Corolla in 2020.
Butcher has also performed well at the Hampshire track, the 34-year-old Scot reaching the podium there in each of the past two seasons. Young team-mate Smelt has only raced at Thruxton once – during his rookie BTCC season in 2018 – but the 24-year-old Northampton-born racer is looking forward to re-acquainting himself with the circuit’s demanding 2.36-mile layout.
All the 2021 BTCC races will be broadcast live and in high-definition on ITV4.
Christian Dick, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Team Principal, said: “It’s been a long winter, but by the same token a very productive one, with a phenomenal effort from the whole team to build a second Corolla and a positive testing programme with both cars – and now finally we are ready to go racing.
“I think both drivers can justifiably feel very optimistic going to Thruxton. Rory has impressed everybody with his excellent work ethic and the input he has had into the Corolla’s ongoing development from his experience with other cars and teams, while Sam has been getting faster with every test and – as I have said before – will be a dark horse this year. He had a difficult first season in the BTCC through no real fault of his own, but he is a very different and much more rounded competitor now.”
ENDS
