Tom Chilton says that he has ‘three options’ for the 2017 season, with remaining in the World Touring Car Championship one of his considerations.
The Brit is currently enjoying one of his most successful seasons to-date in the WTCC, where he sits eighth overall in the drivers’ championship standings.
Having missed out on the WTCC Trophy for Independents at the previous meeting in China, Chilton believes that if he sticks with the championship in 2017 then he stands a much better chance at being able to build on this year’s performances.
“If I’m honest, I was quite shocked at how hard the Citroën was to drive,” said Chilton to TouringCars.Net. “I’ve been driving touring cars at the highest level, in Britain and the World, for 15 years – including World Touring Cars for five years – and the new TC1 car is definitely different to drive from the TC2 car.
“I got to grips with the [TC1] Chevrolet quite well, and I was the fastest out of the six Chevrolet drivers, but when I hopped into the Citroën I was like ‘whoa, this thing is very different to drive’.
“The problem for me is that our winter testing was in hail, so when I actually got to drive the car properly it was at the race meeting for the first time. It took me a few rounds to get used to it, but once I did I then got a win, five podiums and fastest laps around the Nordschleife. I started to really get to grips with the car.
“I spoke to Citroën Racing about it, and they said that in his first year in the car, Mehdi [Bennani] was absolutely nowhere. I remember Mehdi being behind me in the Chevrolet for most of his first year in the car. It took him over half a year to get used to the car too, so it’s not just me.
“Depending on what happens with sponsorship and stuff for next year, if I can manage to get back in the car then I feel like I’ve got a heads up on Mehdi now so I might have a chance of beating him if I do continue.”
Whilst Chilton would like to remain in the WTCC for a sixth straight season, he admits that finding the budget will be challenging. An additional consideration for the 31-year-old is that, with two young children, he could look to race closer to home as an option.
“[Staying in WTCC] is one of my three options, it’s not 100%,” continued Chilton. “I feel like I’ve got unfinished business – I need to go and win that championship. [Plans] are still very much in progress at the moment.
“I’ve always thought, that as I’m now over 30 years old and I’ve got a couple of kids, maybe I should start looking at GTs, but I’ve still got the pace in the World Touring Cars. It’s one of the most impressive forms of motorsport in the world in terms of how close everyone is, so I haven’t exactly lost it yet!
“I’m just starting to get to that point where maybe I need to start thinking about GTs… I like to keep my options open, I’m getting old and GTs are an option.”
Chilton made his name racing in the BTCC between 2002 and 2011, picking up 12 wins and 45 podiums along the way. He admits that returning to the UK could be an option, but added that it would need to be with the right package.
“I’ve always loved the British Touring Cars, so obviously if I got offered a good enough deal then obviously, I wouldn’t say no to it, because I was there for ten years and I absolutely loved it.”
He also emphasised that he preferred the sporting atmosphere of the WTCC compared to the ‘entertainment package’ of the BTCC.
“One of the reasons why I left the British Touring Car Championship is that it said in the rules that ‘this is now an entertainment championship’. I just thought that it might as well be called the ‘PTCC’ for the ‘Plato Touring Car Championship’.”
Despite liking to keep his options open, Chilton is full of praise for the organisation and atmosphere of the WTCC. However with costs having gone up in the TC1 era, and the impact of Brexit threatening to make international programmes even more costly for independent British drivers racing overseas, Chilton is aware that he needs to be looking at all of his options for next year.
“It’s a very, very good championship,” said Chilton of the WTCC. “Unfortunately I feel it’s getting a little bit too expensive now, which is why I keep talking about sponsorship.
“Me and Dad have always been very good at hounding companies and managing to get it out, and somehow we always just do, but at the moment the budgets are so big, and that’s why I’m umming and aahing about doing other things. If I did GTs you get to split the costs with other drivers, and British Touring Cars is about half the price.
“[WTCC] is over £1 million and it’s a lot of money. The average in the British Touring Cars is probably £500,000 with all of the testing and damage. If people don’t do all the testing and stay out of trouble, you could probably get it down to about £300,000, but obviously if you go away for a week or ten days testing, that’s £100,000!
“I hope I can announce something by the Autosport show in January. At my level I need to find a certain amount of money to pay for myself and my family. I’m away quite a lot with the World Touring Cars, so if I did more of a localised championship I could spend more time with the kids, but at the end of the day I’ve got to earn the money.”
Chilton heads to the season finale in Qatar on the 24 and 25 November looking to improve on his current position of eighth in the overall drivers’ championship, having already secured the runner-up spot in the WTCC Trophy for independents behind team-mate Bennani.