What could have been: Glew in the BTCC
A proven team/car combination that had won titles in two of the past three years, and a returning series champion alongside; the circumstances for Phil Glew to make his British Touring Car Championship debut in 2010 looked on paper to be very favourable. But the graduating 2009 Renault Clio Cup champion’s experience of the tin-top top-flight in a Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra would only last one round when the team’s main backer withdrew after the Thruxton opener.
In its first year without Vauxhall factory backing, Ian Harrison’s team had endured an anxious winter before locking in 2007-08 king Fabrizio Giovanardi alongside Glew for the Thruxton opener, the young Brit bringing sponsorship from WD40 that would feature on both cars. Glew was required to bring half the budget, with the rest covered by the team’s sponsorship deal with American lifestyle brand Uniq. So far, so good.
Despite only managing half a day’s testing in the wet at Rockingham, Glew acquitted himself well with sixth on his debut, while Giovanardi walzed to victory in the first two races. An engine failure put Glew out of race three, but his “very effective debut” was enough to convince Autosport’s correspondent that he “will win a race this year”.
But it wasn’t to be. Uniq decided against continuing its relationship with the team, explaining in an extraordinary statement that the greater-than-expected interest in its brand “would actually present us with a series of business problems”.
Giovanardi was left high and dry, while Glew too faced an awkward conundrum. It was agreed with WD40 that he could continue if the company’s logos were visible across both cars, as per the original agreement, but that wasn’t possible as James Nash had taken over the Giovanardi car and filled the space with promotion for James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar.
“In the end we had to say, ‘No, can’t do it because it’s not what we originally agreed,’” says Glew. “If I’d known it was my only race, I would have pushed much harder, got stuck in, tried to prove myself a bit more and enjoyed it a bit more.”
One further outing came with the Special Tuning SEAT at Silverstone, before Glew switched to GTS and subsequently driver management.