Updated: 2022 BTCC drivers and teams | Cook returns with BTC Racing | GRR

After spending five incredibly successful years with rear-wheel-drive machinery, which saw a trio of championship wins, Ashley Sutton will surprisingly move across the paddock for 2022, opting instead to join NAPA Racing UK. The new-for-2022 NAPA squad forms one half of the Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus constructor entry, which has signalled its intent to take on the top of the grid by not only signing the hat-trick-hunting Sutton, but also bringing the popular Dan Cammish back into the championship. Having finished 3^rd in 2019 and 2020, although 2019 was more a case of missing out on the title by one lap after sliding off the road in the final race of the year in a winning position, Cammish was replaced at Team Dynamics by the returning Gordon Shedden in 2021, but made a one off appearance at the season-opener with BTC racing, scoring a 4^th and a 2^nd before going on to win his third Porsche Carrera Cup GB title with Redline Racing.

Motorbase will also be running its own pair of Focuses, with both Sam Osborne and Ollie Jackson returning for another year with the Kent-based squad.

With Sutton moving across to the blue and yellow of NAPA, Laser Tools Racing will drop back to a two car program with its pair of Infiniti Q50s, with series debutant and former Sauber Junior Team member Dexter Patterson joining Aiden Moffat in the latter’s family team for an all-Scottish assault on the BTCC.

BMW goes in to 2022 eyeing up a seventh straight Manufacturers’ crown, and while the main Team BMW squad are yet to announce its drivers, it would be a brave move to bet against seeing Colin Turkington in one of the 3 Series next year. He won’t be joined by recent team-mate Tom Oliphant, however, who confirmed he would not be taking part in the 2022 season, instead opting for a sabbatical from the sport altogether. Meanwhile, MB Motorsport will swap Fords for BMWs as it moves its team, and driver Jake Hill, to the West Surrey Racing camp in what is expected to be a real championship contending manoeuvre.

Elsewhere, Tom Ingram will return in the Hyundai i30 with Excelr8 Motorsport, Dan Rowbottom will be back in the Team Dynamics Honda Civic and Jack Goff remains in the Team HARD Cupra Leon, as the trio begin the second years of their respective contracts. Aron Taylor-Smith will return alongside Goff in the Cupra, having signed an extension to his deal with the team late in 2021.

All other seats remain to be filled, but with the publication of the TOCA BTCC Licences list in December 2021, we at least know which teams are to be expected to field cars on the capacity 32-car grid. Key changes between 2021 and 2022 include third cars for Team Dynamics and Speedworks, and a fourth for BTC Racing.

Update: Nicolas Hamilton completes 2022 BTCC grid

Updated 09:30 Wednesday 13^th April 2022. Nic Hamilton will line up with Team HARD for a third season as he signs up alongside Aron Taylor-Smith in the Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing entered Cupra Leon.

Hamilton has achieved both his best-ever qualifying result and first ever points-scoring result with the Kent squad and will be looking to continue to improve as he prepares to embark on his fourth season in Britain’s premier tin-top series.

Having made his BTCC debut part-way through the 2015 season with the AmD Tuning team, Hamilton returned to the Renault Clio Cup for 2017 and 2018, before joining forces with Team HARD for 2019. The relationship with Hamilton and HARD has been strong over the past four years, with his best result of 15th coming in the 2020 season when driving the team’s previous Volkswagen CC.

This announcement finalises the 29-strong field for the 2022 BTCC season, including nine drivers, of which Hamilton is one, eligible for Jack Sears Trophy honours across the year. With all drivers now announced, and the season launch/pre-season test taking place at Thruxton on April 13, anticipation will now start to build ahead of the season opener at Donington Park on April 24.

2022 BTCC drivers and teams

Update: Ash Hand completes Power Maxed Racing line-up

Updated 10:00 Friday 8^th April 2022. Power Maxed Racing has confirmed its line-up ahead of the new BTCC season, providing Ash Hand his debut in the British Touring Car Championship alongside fan-favourite Michael Crees.

Signing a ‘multi-year’ deal with the squad to drive the #97 Vauxhall Astra, Hand is an exciting prospect to bring to the BTCC, having narrowly missed out on the 2015 Renault Clio Cup crown to future BTCC superstar Ash Sutton. Hand’s battles with Sutton are still remembered fondly across the BTCC paddock, and he received a BTCC test with Motorbase as a prize for his runner’s up spot that year. Since then, he has gone on to become British GT4 champion, beating a number of BTCC alumni in the process, including Aron Taylor-Smith, Kelvin Fletcher, Sam Smelt and Jack Butel.

Hand becomes the eighth person on the 2022 BTCC grid to qualify for this year’s Jack Sears Trophy, which is for drivers yet to record an overall podium or Jack Sears Trophy championship, an accolade won by team-mate Crees in 2020. He will also be hoping for some birthday luck at the season opener, with his 30th birthday falling on race day at his home circuit of Donington Park.

Only the one seat now remains on the grid for 2022, with Aron Taylor-Smith still waiting to find out who will be joining him in the Yazoo-backed side of the Team HARD Cupra Leon, which has also confirmed cryptocurrency brand Safuu.com as a joint title sponsor for the coming year.

Update: Ricky Collard completes Toyota Gazoo Racing UK line-up

Third-generation racer Ricky Collard will return to the British Touring Car Championship paddock in 2022, having put pen on paper with a deal to drive the second works Toyota Corolla.

Collard has been predominantly competing in GT racing over the past few years, with two wins in GT World Challenge to his name. His GT prowess has also seen him take a class victory at the Nurburgring 24hr, using the legendary Nordschleife layout, as well as making history when he and father Rob became the first team featuring a father and son to win the Pro-Am category of the Spa 24hr.

The 25-year-old last competed in the BTCC in 2018, stepping into the West Surrey Racing-run BMW 125i M Sport when his father Rob was sidelined after an accident at Snetterton, and impressed with a podium and a further top-five finish at Silverstone, only his third meeting in a BTCC car.

The Collard name is well known within BTCC circles, with Ricky's father Rob taking 15 victories in his 19-year stint in Britain's premier tin-top series, including winning the 2003 Independent's Cup.

The announcement confirms the full constructor entry for the 2022 BTCC season, with Toyota hoping the pairing of Collard and Rory Butcher will bring the Corolla to the top step of the podium on more than a few occasions. Collard himself has stated he is aiming for podiums "at the very least".

There now remains only two seats left to fill on the grid, one at Team HARD and another with Power Maxed Racing. All 29 cars are expected to participate at the season launch at Thruxton on the 13th April.

Update: Jason Plato joins BTC Racing for swansong year

Two-time British Touring Car champion Jason Plato has been announced as the final driver in the three-car BTC Racing line-up for 2022.

Having had a taste of the car at the recent hybrid installation test at Donnington Park, Plato will now line-up for the start of the new season alongside teammates Josh Cook and Jade Edwards.

Plato is without a doubt one of the biggest names in British Motorsport and celebrated his 600th start in 2021. Sitting on 97 wins in the BTCC, Plato will be aiming to be the first driver to make it to a century in what he has said will be his final year in the championship.

Stepping into Honda machinery for the first time in his career, Plato's BTCC journey began in 1997 with the Williams Renault squad. From there he went on to race for Vauxhall, SEAT, Chevrolet, MG and Subaru works outfits, winning the title in 2001 and 2010 for Vauxhall and Chevrolet respectively.

"I didn't want to just drift out of the BTCC without signing off properly," admitted Plato. "I need to be in a competitive car and team. I have been able to watch BTC Racing from a distance and I have seen the team go from strength to strength. I have raced against Josh Cook in previous seasons, and I know where the car is good and where it is not. The Honda has been good for many, many years in specific areas on tracks. It really has its strengths."

With Plato taking the final seat at BTC Racing, only three drives remain on the 2022 grid - the second seat at Toyota Gazoo Racing UK (which is expected to be Ricky Collard), Power Maxed Racing's second seat alongside Michael Crees and the fourth and final Cupra Leon with Team HARD.

Update: Josh Cook returns with BTC Racing

Updated 10:00 Wednesday 30^th March 2022. Josh Cook will return to the BTCC in 2022 as he gets back in the driving seat of a BTC Racing car for a fourth consecutive year.

Cook finished third in 2021, just three points behind four-time champion Colin Turkington after a pair of victories at the traditional Brands Hatch curtain closer. The 2021 season was Cook's most successful year, taking five wins and a further three podiums on his way to third overall in the standings. 

With the BTCC embarking on a new hybrid era this season, Cook is confident that the familiarity of both the team and his Honda Civic Type R will stand him in good stead as he looks to continue his rise up the ranks in Britain's premier tin top series.

Cook joins Jade Edwards at BTC Racing, leaving just one seat left to fill in the Honda squad, and while there is nothing more than rumour at this stage, Jason Plato has been spotted testing for the team at Donington Park as part of the official BTCC Hybrid Installation Tests.

Also spotted putting in testing mileage at Donington was Ricky Collard, son of BTCC race-winner Rob, with the Speedworks-run Toyota Gazoo Racing UK team.

Elsewhere, Rokit MB Motorsport and Motorbase Performance have unveiled their respective liveries for 2022, with the latter also confirming a new official team name in the process. Jake Hill's Rokit backed BMW will now wear a striking new black and white livery, while Ollie Jackson and Sam Osborne will be behind the wheel of red, black and white Ford Focus STs of the newly-named Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan.

Update: Excelr8 Motorsport retain Jack Butel

Updated 12:00 Tuesday 15^th March 2022. Returning for his third season in the British Touring Car Championship, Jack Butel will stick with what he knows as he returns with Excelr8 Motorsport for 2022.

Butel joined the Suffolk squad in 2021, after an unexpected opportunity with the Morgan family-run Ciceley Motorsport outfit in the truncated 2020 campaign. Up until that point, the majority of his career had been spent in sportscars and single seaters, racing in British GT, British F4 and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo championship.

The Jersey-based Butel becomes the sixth driver confirmed on the grid for 2022 eligible for Jack Sears Trophy honours, which is open to all drivers who are yet to score an overall podium finish. Butel’s best result to date is 14^th, which he scored in a Mercedes in his debut year at Brands Hatch, before backing it up with a similar result at Knockhill last season in a Hyundai. A double points score at Thruxton was enough to earn him the Jack Sears Trophy nod for that weekend, before a concussion at the penultimate round at Donington Park put an early end to his season.

Heading into the new season with Excelr8, who recently confirmed they will be running its own Hyundai-based engine from 2022 onwards, Butel teams up with the impressive line-up of Tom Ingram, Tom Chilton and Dan Lloyd, in one of the many strong-looking stables taking to the grid for 2022.

Update: Bobby Thompson returns to Team HARD

Updated Friday 11^th March 2022. Former Volkswagen Racing Cup champion Bobby Thompson will reunite with Team HARD, the squad who gave him his BTCC debut, as he prepares for his fourth campaign in the British Touring Car Championship.

Thompson first drove for Team HARD in 2018, having won the VW Racing Cup crown with them the previous season, for a two-year stint in the team’s Volkswagen CC, before switching across to Shaun Hollamby’s AmD Essex squad for the 2020 season. Unfortunately Thompson’s 2020 season would be cut short after a massive crash at Croft forced him to sit out the remainder of the season and also 2021, but now he’s back fighting fit and hungrier than ever to get back on the BTCC grid.

The announcement sees Thompson back alongside Jack Goff, with the two being team-mates in 2019, in the Team HARD Cupra Leons, which Goff took to a best result of 2^nd in 2021. Thompson is the fifth driver currently confirmed on the 2022 grid eligible for the Jack Sears Trophy, which is for drivers yet to record an overall podium – providing they haven’t previously won the Trophy itself in previous years.

Update: Rick Parfitt Jr joins Team HARD

Updated Friday 4^th March 2022. Double British GT champion Rick Parfitt Jr. will swap front-wheel-drive for rear-drive power as he returns to the BTCC for his second campaign, jumping in to one of the Team HARD-run Infiniti Q50s.

Parfitt comes to the Team HARD squad having spent his debut season behind the wheel of a Hyundai i30 N in the Excelr8 Motorsport camp, but switching to rear-wheel-drive was prerequisite to him staying in the BTCC. Having previously been run under the Laser Tools Racing banner by Team BMR, LTR will now be operated out of Team HARD’s Kent base, and one of the team’s previous Q50s will now be run under the HARD name for the first time, alongside its Cupra quartet.

Update: Ciceley Motorsport Gambles on rookie for 2022

Updated 11:30 Monday 28^th February 2022. Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport will hand a BTCC debut to George Gamble, who will step into the second of the team’s BMW 330e M Sport alongside team owner Adam Morgan, who also returns for his 11^th season in the championship.

Gamble steps up to the top tin-top series in the country having spent the past decade in the BTCC support ladder, starting in Ginetta Juniors back in 2011, with a third overall and a Winter Series victory that year, before enjoying further success in Ginetta GT5 and GT4 and then staying at the sharp end of Porsche Carrera Cup GB. The Accrington-based driver will be hoping to learn from the vast experience of team-mate Adam Morgan, who has enjoyed 10 victories across his BTCC career, including two last season at both Brands Hatch and Thruxton.

Update: Butcher sticks with Toyota for 2022

Updated 15:00 Tuesday 22^nd February 2022. Rory Butcher is aiming to take the Toyota Corolla to the top of the standings in 2022, as he returns to Toyota Gazoo Racing UK for a second season. The Speedworks Motorsport-run squad, which ran the full Toyota corporate livery for the first time in 2021, provided Butcher with the tools to take three victories last season, including an impressive double at Silverstone, and a further three trips to the podium en route to seventh place in the overall standings.

Butcher has won both the Independents’ Championship and the Jack Sears Trophy in his four-and-a-half season BTCC career, and will be starting a new season in the same car he finished the previous for the first time, a fact he feels will help propel him back up the grid, as well as being on a level playing field across the board with the introduction of the new hybrid technology. Butcher’s team-mates are will be announced in due-course as the Toyota team expands to a three-car entry for 2022.

Update: Turkington and Jelley stick with Team BMW and WSR

Updated 11:00 Thursday 17^th February 2022. Team BMW has confirmed its driver line-up for the 2022 season, retaining the services of both Colin Turkington and Stephen Jelley for another year. The duo will race alongside the previously announced Jake Hill, who drives the third West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sports under the MB Motorsport banner.

Turkington has spent all but three of his 17 years in the BTCC with Dick Bennetts’ squad, winning all four of his record-equalling Drivers’ championships behind the wheel of a WSR BMW, and once again will look to go one step ahead of joint-record holder Andy Rouse with honours this year. Despite not winning the title since 2019, Turkington finished runner-up to Ash Sutton in both 2020 and 2021, and has failed to finish outside of the top two in the standings since his return to the WSR squad in 2017.

Jelley, meanwhile, returns for his second season with Team BMW, having scored a brace of podiums in 2021 en route to 12^th overall in the standings. The Leicestershire-based Jelley began his BTCC career in 2008 with WSR in the Team RAC colours, taking a pair of victories on his way to 6^th overall in 2009, before a switch to GTs from 2010 which saw him compete in the British GT Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup and Blancpain Endurance Series. Returning to the BTCC after an eight year absence in 2017, he drove for Team Parker Racing for four seasons, taking victory at the third Oulton Park race in 2019, before switching back to the WSR-run works squad in 2021.

BMW’s announcement means that only Toyota, the third constructor entry for 2022, is left to reveal its driver line-up, with both BMW and Ford’s respective stables locked in for the coming year.

Update: Tom Chilton bolsters Excelr8 line-up

Updated 11:00 Tuesday 15^th February 2022. Excelr8 Motorsport has confirmed that Tom Chilton will bring his 20 years of touring car experience from over 500 starts to the Hyundai squad, as he steps behind the wheel of the i30 Fastback N for the 2022 season.

Making his BTCC debut back in 2022 at just 17 years of age, in the appropriately numbered #17 Vauxhall Astra Coupe of Barwell Motorsport, Chilton took a podium finish in his very first race. From then, works seats with Honda and Vauxhall kept him at the sharp end of the sport, taking the Independents’ Trophy in 2010 before switching over to the World Touring Car Championship for six years, where a number of wins culminated with a best season result of 3rd overall and the Independents’ crown in 2017 while driving for the nine-time WRC champion and 2022 Monte Carlo Rally winner, Sébastien Loeb. Returning to the BTCC in 2017, he was straight back on the pace and finished a career-best of 3^rd overall in the standings the following year.

Chilton joins Tom Ingram and Dan Lloyd at Excelr8 for the upcoming year, signalling a real statement of intent from the Excerl8 offices, as the Suffolk-based team sets its eyes firmly on adding more silverware to its trophy cabinet, having taken its first BTCC win in 2021. The team’s fourth and final driver will be announced in due course.

Update: Dan Lloyd joins Excelr8 Motorsport

Updated 11:30 Thursday 3^rd February 2022. BTCC race-winner Dan Lloyd will return to the championship for his second full season, having signed a deal with the Excelr8 Motorsport squad to join the already announced Tom Ingram in the team’s stable of Hyundai i30 Fastback Ns. Lloyd finished 11^th overall in 2021, taking four podiums along the way in what was his first full season in the top flight of British motorsport, having previously competed in part-season stints for Eurotech Racing, Triple Eight Racing and BTC Racing across 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, although his BTCC debut came at home circuit Croft back in 2010 with the Triple Eight squad. While Lloyd’s BTCC success has been modest over the past few seasons, he made a name for himself in the tin-top ranks in TCR championships, winning the inaugural TCR UK title in 2018, before runners’ up spots in TCR China and TCR Malaysia in 2019 and 2020.

Lloyd’s appointment confirms half of Excelr8’s line-up for 2022, lining up alongside two-time Independent’s champion Tom Ingram in another strong pairing in what is shaping up to be a very intriguing grid for the upcoming season. The remaining two drivers for the Hyundai squad are still to be confirmed.

Update: Tom Ingram extends Excerl8 relationship

Updated 12:00 Thursday 20^th January 2022. Exactly one year to the day he announced he had joined Excelr8 Motorsport, Tom Ingram has put pen to paper on a new deal which will see him stick with the Suffolk squad until at least the end of 2023. Ingram got on with the Hyundai i30 Fastback N right from the off in 2021, scoring a podium in his very first race with the team at Thruxton, before a win, a podium and a top five finish at the team’s home round of Snetterton. With strong results all season, Ingram’s final position of fourth in the standings didn’t reflect his true performance across the year, and was only six points shy of the runner’s up spot. With the BTCC embarking on a new hybrid era in 2022, Ingram feels that now could be a real opportunity to shake off any talk of being the perennial bridesmaid.

“Considering that change [of regulations] and with so many leading drivers switching teams, it really could be the most unpredictable season in ages,” Ingram said. “I’ve been the BTCC’s ‘nearly man’ too many times for my liking, and off the back of such a strong first year at Exceler8 and with the new challenge of getting to grips with hybrid technology, I’ve never felt so motivated. We will 100 per cent come out of the blocks fighting, and the aim is to start as we mean to go on – which means pushing for pole position and victory right from the outset.”

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.