Paul O’Neill will return to the British Touring Car Championship later this month, after it was confirmed that he would race one of the Team HARD. Vauxhall Insignia’s at Knockhill later this month.
O’Neill has been without a full-time drive in the series since Tech Speed pulled out of the championship after the 2011 season, but will compete at Knockhill just as he did in 2012 after it was revealed that Jack Goff would skip rounds 19, 20 and 21 at the Scottish track.
Goff’s withdrawal means that O’Neill will now pilot the RCIB Insurance Racing Insignia, with Keiran Gallagher taking Goff’s seat having been confirmed as his teammate earlier in the week.
Despite playing down his chances of comepting at the sharp end of the grid, the 33-year-old was thrilled to be back in a race seat and was eagerly anticipating his return to action.
“I am delighted to be back in a Touring Car and to be invited to do so is even more flattering.” said O’Neill to BTCC.net.
“It’s going to be extremely tough as I haven’t driven the car before and I haven’t had any testing this year, so it’ll be different and more challenging than say when I jumped in the Toyota last season. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself in terms of results but seeing what Robb Holland did with the car last weekend then I’d like to think I could be knocking on the door of the top ten. Obviously if I could do that in race two then I’d stand a chance of being up front for the final race, which would be absolutely fantastic.”
O’Neill raced at Knockhill in 2012 for Speedworks, where he achieved two sixth and one fourth placed finishes.