Ex-sutton rival Hand gets final BTCC seat
Former British GT4 champion Ash Hand has filled the final seat in this year’s British Touring Car Championship, thanks to what is described as “a multi-year deal” with Vauxhall Astra team Power Maxed Racing.
Hand, 29, came to prominence in the Renault Clio Cup in
2015, when he lost the title in a dramatic final-round showdown with team-mate Ash Sutton and accused the team of sabotaging his car’s set-up. He joined the British GT ranks in 2019 and won the GT4 crown at the wheel of an Aston Martin.
“I absolutely loved watching the battles between Ash Sutton and Ash Hand, many of which I watched again when I got home,” said PMR boss Adam Weaver. “I have watched them all again on Youtube recently, just to remind myself of why I’ve worked so hard to get him in a BTCC car.”
Hand was not one of the 22 drivers on track as BTCC pre-season testing continued at Croft last week. As he had the previous week at Donington Park, four-time champion Colin Turkington emerged on top in his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport. Teammate Stephen Jelley was fastest in the afternoon, and second overall, ahead of Dan Cammish’s Motorbase Ford Focus.