Tom Chilton has signed with Excelr8 Motorsport for the 2022 British Touring Car Championship season, ahead of his 16th season in the championship.
Chilton is to join his fourth different team in as many seasons as he returns to racing a front-wheel drive touring car following a year in a rear-wheel drive BMW in 2021.
Chilton dovetailed his 2021 campaign in the BTCC with a season in the all-electric PURE ETCR series, and he is hoping that this knowledge of an additional power boost during racing will help him out with the BTCC utilising a hybrid system for 2022.
Last season proved to be a challenging year for Chilton, as he struggled with the Ciceley Motorsport-run BMW 330i and ended the year 19th overall in the drivers’ standings – his lowest ever end-of-year ranking – with just five top ten finishes.
However, the 36-year-old is looking forward to racing in front-wheel drive machinery again, and hopes that he will be able to add to his 14 race wins in the championship in his new Hyundai i30 Fastback N.
“I’m massively excited to announce this deal with EXCELR8 for 2022, and I’m going back to what I know with a front-wheel drive touring car,” said Chilton.
“There were a lot of teams interested in doing a deal for this season in both the BTCC and elsewhere, but having spoken to Justina, it was clear to see how serious the team is about winning – and that is backed up by the strong commercial partners that are in place.
“There is so much work that has gone into putting the right people in place from the engineers behind to the scenes to the drivers in the cars, and I think we’ll all be able to work together to help the team move forwards again this year.
“I’m particularly looking forward to working with Tom as I feel he is a quick driver who has a similar driving style to me and with our experience, and the speed that Dan has also shown in the past, I believe we already have one of the strongest line-ups on the grid.
“The new hybrid system is going to mix things up a bit this year but I feel the experience I gained last year in ETCR is something that will give us an advantage.
“I was working with some of the smartest guys in the business with Hyundai Motorsport and was able to learn a huge amount that we can try and benefit from this season, particularly early on when everyone is trying to get up to speed.
“Having won an Independents’ title and been in the top three overall in the past, I really want to challenge for the overall title, and my full focus is on trying to achieve that goal with Excelr8 this season. Roll on the opening rounds!”
Team owner Justina Williams is looking forward to working with Chilton, along with already-announced team-mates Tom Ingram and Daniel Lloyd, in 2022.
“When it became clear that Tom was on the market for 2022, we were keen to try and bring him into the Excelr8 family,” said Williams.
“Throughout his career, he has been a consistent front-runner in both the BTCC and in FIA World Touring Cars against some of the very best drivers there is, and the chance to sign a driver with that kind of experience doesn’t come along very often.
“Tom brings a lot of knowledge to our programme for this season as we seek to build on the success we enjoyed last year, particularly when it comes to the hybrid system as how you manage that element of the racing is going to be key this year.
“For us as a team, the focus has to be on fighting for championship silverware, and we know that Tom holds the same end goal.
“Alongside Tom Ingram and Dan Lloyd, we now have three drivers in the team who are proven race winners and who have championship titles to their name, and that leaves me hugely excited – and confident – about the season ahead.”