With perhaps the least surprising news of the off season, WSR have announced Rob Collard as the driver of the third of their BMW 1 series alongside the already signed Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan.
Collard has been with the team for the past 7 seasons in a row and this will be his tenth season with the team having first joined them in 2005. He had a brief stint at Motorbase before rejoining WSR and he has been with the team for the whole of their NGTC BMW 1 series program.
He had his best BTCC season to date in 2016, taking two wins, six podiums and was in the running for the title right up to the final meeting. He also won the Dunlop Forever Forward trophy for making up the most places during the season with a total of 140 places gained over all 30 races.
He will join the whole team in Spain for a week at the end of February.
“It’s fantastic to be staying with WSR,” said Collard. “They have a pedigree like no other team in the BTCC and the level of professionalism and preparation that has been key to their success is clear to see in everything they do.”
He spoke about his history with the team;
“This will be my 10th season with the team and I plan to use that continuity to my advantage. I took my first BTCC win and my first podium with WSR and now my aim is to take my first title with them too. With Colin and Andrew as my team-mates, I think we have the strongest line-up in the championship and I can’t wait to start testing the latest development of the BMW later this month.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “We’re very pleased to continue our partnership with Rob, who has raced with WSR for the past seven seasons – including the entire BMW 125i M Sport programme.
“He’s very much part of the family here, is one of the best drivers in the BTCC for pure racing ability and played a pivotal role in WSR’s constructors’ and teams’ title successes in 2016. I don’t see any reason why he can’t be a title contender again.”
There is just a single seat at BMR that we are yet to hear any news about but an announcement is due there shortly.
The only other seat in doubt is Maximum Motorsport where regular driver Stewart Lines may have to sit out the early races due to a mountain bike injury. He has said he will field a young up and coming driver as a replacement. By Marc Waller
