Sam Osborne will race an AmD Tuning Honda Civic in the 2020 British Touring Car Championship, after inking a deal to race with the Essex-based squad in his second season in the series.
Osborne graduated to the BTCC with Exceler8 Motorsport in 2019, racing one of the outfit’s ageing MG6 cars in his and the team’s début season.
After securing the late deal, the 26-year-old went on to claim a best finish of 14th in his first year, taking home his only points finish of the season at Snetterton.
The former MINI Challenge and Renault Clio Cup racer will move into one of AmD’s race-winning Hondas for his second year, lining up alongside Jake Hill at the revamped team.
“I’m ecstatic about this deal and can’t wait for the new season to get underway,” said Osborne. “To be honest, it hasn’t really sunk in yet, but this is fantastic opportunity for me and one that I want to try and grab with both hands.
“From the moment I first spoke to Shaun [Hollamby], I knew that this was the right deal for me and I’m hoping that this can be the start of something long term with the team.
“There is little doubt that my rookie season had its challenges, but I’m hopeful that the Honda is a car that will be better suited to my driving style and that I can work with the team and with Jake to learn as much as possible and make progress up the order.
“To regularly challenge for points finishes is the first objective and if I could then make a bid for the Jack Sears Trophy then it would be fantastic.”
Shaun Hollamby, AmD Team Principal, is hoping that with Osborne and Hill the team can once again challenge for the Jack Sears Trophy for the third year in a row.
“Sam is a driver who did a solid job during the 2019 season when you consider that he went into his first year in the series with very little testing and with a team that was new to the BTCC,” said Hollamby.
“It’s a big step up from the Clio Cup, and he showed himself to be more than capable of racing at this level.
“With a year of experience behind him, Sam’s goal now has to be to make the step forwards to challenge for points on a regular basis and we certainly feel that that is something that he can do during the year ahead.
“The Jack Sears Trophy is a realistic goal, and it would be great if he could help us challenge for the title for a third time.
“Sam and Jake have known each other for a number of years and our hope is that they can work together to challenge for some strong results in 2020.”