Tom Boardman returns to the BTCC
Tom Boardman will return to race in the BTCC for the first time since 2003, entering a petrol powered SEAT Leon with his family team. The Special Tuning (UK) team that will run Boardman in a SEAT Leon TSI in 2010 hope to secure a second driver in “the next couple of weeks” to run alongside Boardman.
“Although the decision to contest the BTCC came quite late, I’m really looking forward to 2010, as I have missed racing in the UK for a few years now” said Boardman.
“It’s going to be difficult, with the number of experienced drivers that will continue in the BTCC this year, but we have set our targets high.”
Club Seat, who supported Tom in 2009, will back the Special Tuning (UK) team, and have promised this means that the car and driver will “appear in a number of less familiar surroundings during the year as part of some new marketing activities.”
The 26-year-old Lancastrian competed in the WTCC in 2009 with the SUNRED Engineering team, winning the Independent’s class in race two at Brands Hatch. Boardman made his WTCC debut at Estoril in 2008 as a prize for his efforts in the SEAT Eurocup, but will be best remembered by British fans for his outings in the Production Class of the BTCC between 2001 and 2003, and winning the SEAT Cupra Challenge in 2005.
The former British Autograss Champion joined the BTCC in 2001 in a distinctive pink Peugeot 306, becoming the youngest driver to compete in the championship. 11th place in the Production standings was followed up by 6th a year later in an Edenbridge BMW 320i. Boardman’s final BTCC year in 2003 was in a Peugeot 307 GTi for Team Varta, with the youngster taking six Production wins before switching to one-make SEAT racing at the year’s end.
