Amd Tuning’s newest signing, Ant Whorton-Eales, says he is aiming to ‘stay out of trouble’ as he makes his début in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend.
Renault Clio Cup champion Whorton-Eales has set himself modest ambitions for his first full season, with the Jack Sears’ Trophy for rookie racers being his primary goal.
He joins Ollie Jackson in the two-car Audi squad, with the team’s S3s having been upgraded to the now mandatory RML NGTC components during the off-season.
“It’s great to be going into my first weekend as a BTCC driver and I can’t wait to get started,” said Whorton-Eales. “It promises to be a lot different to racing in the Clios, and my aim is to stay out of trouble and learn as much as I can.
“The main target for me is to challenge for Jack Sears Trophy honours, but I also want to try and pick up some points in my first weekend. Who knows, if results go our way, I think we have a car that can break into the top ten and I’d be over the moon if that was to happen.”
The 22-year-old admits that he faces a huge challenge in the coming season, going toe-to-toe with experienced racers on a 32-car grid.
“For me personally, it’s a little bit of a step into the unknown as I’ll be running the new engine for the first time, but even when I was using an older engine in testing it was clear to see that the Audi is a very strong package and we have a good base on which to build when we get to Brands.”
Team boss Shaun Hollamby also praised the efforts of Team Manager Rob Tickner in ensuring that the West Thurrock team’s two cars were ready for the coming season.
“It promises to be a hugely exciting season for us as we expand to a two-car team on a full-time basis,” said Hollamby. “It’s great that our new adventure starts on home soil at Brands Hatch.
“It’s been a very busy winter as we worked to build up a new car and also had to upgrade the other with the new RML-spec parts and the latest TOCA engine.
“Huge thanks have to go to team manager Rob Tickner for the late nights he has put in to get the cars prepared as without his monumental effort, we’d not have been in the position we are in now – with two cars ready and raring to go.
“Huge thanks also have to go to Rachel and the team at Cobra Exhausts for their increased support this season as without them, we also wouldn’t have been able to run a two-car team.
“With Ant, it’s great that we can give him his opportunity to show what he can do in the BTCC and expect him to be very competitive against arguably the toughest field there has been for a number of years.”