Carl Boardley will replace Will Powell at Team HARD for this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship season finale at Brands Hatch.
Having made his BTCC début at Knockhill in 2018, Boardley competed full-time in the championship from 2019 to 2021, scoring a career-best result of tenth at the Scottish circuit last year.
He took a sabbatical from the BTCC this year, although the 46-year-old was lined up to stand in for Rick Parfitt Jr at the team at Croft, before illness forced him out before the first session of the weekend.
He will now replace Powell, who raced one of the team’s CUPRAs at seven of this year’s nine events so far, for the season finale on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
“After deciding on a sabbatical from the Championship as a whole for 2022, Tony [Gilham, Team Principal] and the guys at Team Hard knew that a tempting offer for a ‘one off’ would always be greeted positively,” said Boardley.
“Having seen the Championship from the sofa so far has been strange but I am looking forward to the Brands Hatch rounds with the sole aim of trying to enjoy it.
“Obviously, I have ties with the team so seeing some familiar faces will be good and fitting in will be seamless.
“Whilst I aim to have a smile on my face throughout the weekend, having tested the car briefly a few days back and dusted the cobwebs off I’m ready to do battle!”