Tony Gilham Racing

United Kingdom Tony Gilham Racing
Founded 2012
Team principal(s) Tony Gilham
Website http://www.team-hard.com/

Tony Gilham Racing is a British motor racing team based in Dartford, Kent and founded by Tony Gilham. The team raced under the Team HARD. banner in the British Touring Car Championship until the end of 2013. They now compete in the Volkswagen Racing Cup.

British Touring Car Championship

Honda Civic and Vauxhall Insignia (2012)

In February 2012, Gilham announced he had purchased a Super 2000 Honda Civic from Team Dynamics.[1] The following month he announced the formation of Tony Gilham Racing which would run the car in the 2012 British Touring Car Championship season under the RCIB Insurance & HARD. banner.[2] Gilham started on pole position for the reversed grid race at Thruxton but having already slipped down to third, he damaged the car and retired from the race.[3] Gilham took the first podium finish for the team at Donington Park in race three after Mat Jackson was disqualified, finishing third behind Gordon Shedden and Jason Plato. Robb Holland took over the car for the meetings at Snetterton and Knockhill.[4] Holland failed to finish his first race when he collided with the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis of Adam Morgan. Former Formula Renault BARC driver Howard Fuller raced the car in the meetings at Rockingham and Silverstone.[5] He achieved a best result of eleventh in the first and third races at Silverstone. Prior to the final round of the season at Brands Hatch, Tony Gilham Racing bought a full NGTC–spec Vauxhall Insignia from Thorney Motorsport along with an incomplete shell which would be built up over the winter.[6] Gilham raced the Insignia at Brands Hatch and former Ginetta GT Supercup driver Aaron Williamson drove the Honda Civic.[7]

Volkswagen CC and Vauxhall Insignia (2013–)

In December 2012, Team HARD. announced the development of an NGTC Volkswagen CC to compete in the 2013 season which would run alongside a pair of Vauxhall Insignias and the S2000 Honda Civic.[8] The team signed series rookie Jack Goff to drive the first of the Insignias later that month.[9] The first of the Volkswagen CC drivers was announced at the beginning of January 2013 with Tom Onslow-Cole joining the team from eBay Motors in a three-year deal.[10] The second Insignia seat was filled by former FIA Formula Two Championship driver James Cole.[11] Robb Holland will return to the team for a minimum of two rounds which do not clash with his drive in the World Touring Car Championship.[12] The team sold their S2000 Honda Civic prior to the start of the 2013 season in order to focus on starting the season with three NGTC cars.[13] The team ran their cars under two names, the Vauxhall Insignias were run under the RCIB Insurance Racing banner and the Volkswagen CCs were run under the PPCGB.com/Kraftwerk Racing banner.[14]

Howard Fuller and Robb Holland were due to share the other Volkswagen, however this never occurred and from Snetterton onwards the team entered partnership with Team BMR Restart by supplying them with a NGTC Volkswagen CC (the team had previously been running outdated S2000 machinery).[15] Onslow Cole managed to grab three podiums at Thruxton and Croft while his teammates struggled to make it into the top 10 in their insignias. James Cole left the team in July and he was replaced by Robb Holland. Scottish Legends racer Kieran Gallagher replaced Holland for the Knockhill round, little over a year since Gallagher gained his racing licence.[16] Goff decided to miss the Knockhill round in order to save his sponsorship budget with Paul O'Neill stepping in .[17] Goff returned for the Rockingham round while Howard Fuller took the second Insignia.[18] Onslow-Cole left the team and joined Motorbase the final three rounds of the season [19] In the final race of the year at Brands Hatch Jack Goff finished second after battling with reigning champion Gordon Shedden for the lead. The two teams managed to accumulate 4 podiums between them and finish 9th and 11th in the championship respectively.

Before the start of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship season, Tony Gilham Racing merged with Team BMR to form Team BMR Racing.[20] Goff was confirmed as their first driver, racing under the RCIB Insurance Racing banner in a Vauxhall Insignia.[21]

By the mid way point of the 2014 season at Snetterton Warren Scott and his Team BMR racing team had severed all ties with Tony Gilham Racing after purchasing all of the teams assets including the pair of Vauxhall Insignia's and Volkwagen Passat CC's. From that round onwards the team continued to run under the Chrome Edition Restart Racing Banner fielding four Volkswagens for Scott, Alain Menu, Aron Smith and Jack Goff. Tony Gilham and Team Hard re-emerged at the start of the 2015 season with a single car entry after a deal was done with United Autosports to acquire one of their Toyota Avensis' that was previously raced by Frank Wrathall. Scot Kieran Gallagher has raced the Avensis at each round with a string of poor results to date, with the car not even taking to the grid on several occasions, as the team and driver continue to struggle with budget issues.

BTCC Results

References

  1. ↑ "Turbo Honda for Gilham". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 17 February 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "Gilham announces 2012 plans". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  3. ↑ Woods, Chelsea (29 April 2012). "Gordon Shedden leads Honda 1-2 in race three at Thruxton". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "American Holland joins HARD". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "Rookie for Rockingham". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "Team Hard purchase TWO Insignia VXR-R's". ThorneyMotorsport.co.uk. Thorney Motorsport. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Turner, Kevin (16 October 2012). "Tony Gilham planning to field three cars car in the BTCC in 2013". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  8. ↑ Mitchell, Scott (10 December 2012). "Gilham's Game Changer as Team-HARD. Announced NGTC Passat Project". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia Network. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Goff signs with HARD.". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Hockley, Chris (21 December 2012). "Tom Onslow-Cole signs with the massive Team HARD". The Sun. News International. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  11. ↑ "James Cole joins HARD.". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Gilham, Tony (13 January 2013). "Robb Returns to HARD.". Tony Gilham Racing. Tony Gilham. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  13. ↑ Hudson, Neil (23 January 2013). "Tony Gilham Racing sells S2000 Honda Civic". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  14. ↑ "BTCC announces record entry". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  15. ↑ http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=3473
  16. ↑ "BTCC welcomes Legends racer". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  17. ↑ "Paul O’Neill returns". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  18. ↑ "Fuller's focus". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  19. ↑ http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=3543
  20. ↑ "Welcome to Team BMR BTCC". Team BMR. TeamBMR.com. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  21. ↑ "GOFF RETURNS WITH RCIB INSURANCE RACING". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
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