Rob Austin signs up to lead Handy Motorsport team’s BTCC attack

Team boss Simon Belcher says signing Rob Austin up to lead the Handy Motorsport British Touring Car Championship team this season is another building block in the outfit’s long term future in the top flight.

Austin has moved from his own Rob Austin Racing squad to join up with Belcher and race a freshly built Toyota Avensis for the 2016 campaign.

Austin will move his crew from Rob Austin Racing to Handy and the operation will assisted technically by Speedworks Motorsport, as has happened for the last two seasons.

“I’m really excited to be joining forces with Handy Motorsport,” said Austin. “Through this deal we’re combining the best bits of both teams –I will have my regular guys working on the cars and I will have my engineer from 2015, Matt Taylor.

“We should be able to do a really good job with the new Toyota and spring some surprises.

“There will be some adapting back to front-wheel drive but, as Colin Turkington [two-time BTCC champion] has proved, if you can drive you can drive. This really is a perfect opportunity.”

Belcher said: “By signing Rob, this is another signal of intent for the team. We are here for the long term and we have a five-year plan to take us to the next level. There are a lot of shared visions between Rob and Handy Motorsport. By aligning ourselves together, we can get there faster.”