The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Stage set for Butcher
Motorsport: Fifer’s BTCC debut on home soil
Rory Butcher makes his Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship debut on home soil at Knockhill this weekend.
He was confirmed as part of the Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo line-up for the rest of the Motorbase-run squad’s 2017 campaign.
Butcher rejoins the Motorbase fold having raced as part of David Bartrum’s British GT and Blancpain Endurance Cup crew in 2014 and 2015.
The 30-year-old will drive a new car built by the team after a crash for regular driver Luke Davenport at Croft in June.
Although new to touring cars, Butcher has extensive international sports car experience with numerous wins and podiums to his name, and knowledge of the TOCA package from his time competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup, where he secured five race wins and 19 podiums on his way to claiming third in the championship in 2013.
Butcher will line up against his brother-in-law and reigning BTCC champ Gordon Shedden.
He said: “I’m absolutely buzzing. When I first started racing, I looked up to the touring cars and it was my ambition to reach the BTCC grid.
“Although my racing career has ended up going across to sports car racing and the GT world, switching over to the BTCC is a dream come-true.
Team Boss David Bartrum added; “Rory will be under the spotlight at Knockhill as a local lad, coupled with the fact that we’ve got a car that will race in anger for the first time on Scottish soil.
“He’s had very limited testing so I hope people give him some space and don’t put him under too much pressure.
“Knockhill will be a glorified test for Rory and the new car and I’d like us to get a weekend under our belt and then go well from Rockingham onwards.”