Bobby Thompson will return to the British Touring Car Championship in 2022, reuniting with Team HARD to race one of the team’s CUPRA Leon cars.
Thompson, 25, first joined the BTCC in 2018 when he graduated to the championship with Tony Gilham’s team after winning the Volkswagen Racing Cup the year previously.
After two years of racing in Volkswagen CC machinery, in which he picked up his best BTCC finish to-date of sixth in the 2019 season opener, Thompson then switched to racing an Audi S3 for TradePriceCars.com racing in 2020.
However, his season was curtailed with two events still to go when he suffered from a big crash at Croft, flipping his Audi, and Thompson did not return to the grid in 2021.
Now he will come back to take on a fourth season in the BTCC, partnering with Jack Goff under the Autobrite Direct with Team HARD. Racing banner.
“It’s really good to be back in the BTCC with the team I started my journey with,” said Thompson. “I’ve come a long way since I was last with Team HARD.
“I can already see the team is clearly putting in a massive effort to get these cars ready to be fighting at the front for the upcoming season.
“I have a great history with the team, having won the 2017 VW Cup Championship which got me on the map.
“So it’s great to be back, and hopefully we can continue great success and challenge for the Jack Sears Trophy this year.
“It’s always tough to miss out on a season, as I did after my crash at Croft in 2020 which put me out for the remainder of the campaign.
“I wanted to get back last year, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. I took that time, however, to reflect upon my racing career and it only made me more motivated than ever to get back to the front of the field in the most competitive series in the UK.
“I’d like to thank my partners who are helping me to get back onto the grid, and to Tony also. I can’t wait to get going at the test day in a few weeks. Bring it on!”
Tony Gilham, Team HARD Racing Managing Director, praised the consistency which Thompson was developing last time he raced in the BTCC.
“It’s really good news to have Bobby back in one of our BTCC cars,” added Gilham. “We have a long history together, which started way back in the VW Cup where, of course, he secured the championship with us in 2017.
“In 2020 while competing in the Audi for Trade Price Cars, Bobby started to show the consistency required to be a top-level BTCC driver.
“Unfortunately, his accident took him out of the remaining rounds and for 2021. However, after a recent test, Bobby looks like he is fit and ready to attack head-on in one of our CUPRA Leons.
“Bobby has built up a great reputation within the BTCC paddock over the last few years and it’s great to be able to welcome him back into the team with open arms.
“I’m sure he’s going to prove to be one of the fan favourites this season. We can’t wait to get going!”