TOYOTA RETURNS TO BTCC
Boost for touring cars as new corolla hits the grid
Team Toyota GB will return to the British Touring Car Championship grid next season after tying up a deal to run a factorybacked Corolla model with Speedworks Motorsport and reigning Independents Trophy holder Tom Ingram.
The name has previously had huge success in the series, with Win Percy taking the Corolla’s first BTCC title in 1982 and Chris Hodgetts adding two more overall successes later in that decade.
The new car is currently in build at Speedworks Motorsport and is expected to hit the track in early February 2019.
Ingram said: “This is one of the most exciting times I have had in my career, even including joining the BTCC. Representing the Team Toyota GB name, which is iconic in motorsport, is a huge privilege.”
The Toyota GB name will return to the British Touring Car Championship grid next season as Speedworks Motorsport will step up to become a manufacturerbacked entry with a new Corolla model for Tom Ingram.
It marks a big step forward for the Speedworks Motorsport team, which has run a privately funded Avensis model in the championship since 2011 and for two-time Independents Trophy winner Tom Ingram, who graduated to the BTCC with the Cheshire team in 2014.
The new Corolla will be launched in the UK in 2019 and a version of the car is currently in build at Speedworks’ workshops. It is due to be ready to begin testing in early February.
Toyota’s return
Toyota was a mainstay of the category during the Super Touring years in the 1990s, running a factory-backed Carina from 1991 through to 1995.
Its most successful decade in the championship was in the 1980s. Win Percy was the first to lift the crown for the Japanese firm when he triumphed in a Corolla GT in 1982 and then Chris Hodgetts went on to take back-to-back titles in the Corolla in 1986-1987.
Ingram says tying up the Toyota deal is the springboard he needs to capture the overall title. He finished third in the points in 2017 and was runner-up in the standings this term.
“We can look back at the [2018] season with a huge amount of pride and not a lot of regrets,” said Ingram, 25. “To have this new challenge in front of us and a new car on the horizon is something very special and the absolute realisation of a dream.
“It was where Speedworks and I wanted to go. We have been on this journey together and things have happened very quickly. We have gone from being a team where no one really thought anything of us to then getting a podium every so often and then on to a race-winning season and then a championship tilt.
“This journey has happened over three or four years and naturally that journey has to go somewhere else and the next step has to come in. Other than winning the championship, there is not really any further steps we could have taken. Toyota is the next step.
“It is a huge responsibility for us because we are not just looking after our own brand now, we are looking after the Team Toyota GB name, which is iconic in