Tom Chilton
| Tom Chilton | |
|---|---|
 Chilton in 2011 |
|
| Nationality |  British |
| Born | March 15, 1985 Reigate (England) |
| 2012 World Touring Car Championship | |
| Debut season | 2012 |
| Current team | Team Aon |
| Car no. | TBC |
| Starts | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Previous series | |
| 2005, 2007 2005, 2007 2002-2011 2000–01 |
American Le Mans Series Le Mans Series BTCC T Cars |
| BTCC record | |
|---|---|
| Teams | Team Aon Team Dynamics VX Racing Honda Barwell Motorsport |
| Drivers championships |
0 |
| Wins | 12 |
| Podium finishes | 45 |
| Poles | 10 |
| Fastest laps | 12 |
| Debut season | 2002 |
| First win | 2004 |
| Best championship position | 5th (2005 and 2010) |
| Final season (2011) position | 7th (135 points) |
Thomas James Chilton (born 15 March 1985 in Reigate) is a British auto racing driver. He has spent most of his career competing in the BTCC; he is a former factory Vauxhall and Honda driver. For 2011 he is driving an NGTC-spec Ford Focus for Team Aon. His younger brother Max Chilton, is also a racing driver competing in GP2.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early life
Chilton's father Grahame is the multi-millionaire chairman of insurance firm Aon Benfield and vice chairman of Aon Corporation.[1] Tom was educated at Reigate St. Mary's School and Shiplake College. A keen racer from an early age, he competed in the BRSCC T-Cars Championship in 1999 and 2000, going on to take the BRSCC Saloon Car winter championship in 2001.
[edit] British Touring Car Championship
Turning his attention to the BTCC, he was team mate to ex-Superbike racer Aaron Slight in 2002 driving a Vauxhall Astra Coupé for Barwell Motorsport. He proved to be very quick, and although his lack of experience counted against him he nevertheless finished the season in 15th place overall and 5th in the Independents' Cup.
In 2003 he finished in 9th place overall driving a works Honda Civic Type-R run by Arena Motorsport alongside Matt Neal and Alan Morrison. With Honda withdrawing manufacturer support for 2004, Arena only had the budget to run a single car for Chilton. However, the car was still well-prepared and he came through to take his first victory during the 9th race of the season, at Silverstone, in the process becoming the youngest winner of a BTCC race. He won again in the 29th race at Donington.
His plans for 2005 centered around the DTM with a new programme backed by MG Rover, but this fell through with the demise of the British marque. He and Arena rejoined the BTCC at the second meeting of the season and combined his touring car duties with racing for Zytek in the ALMS and LMS endurance series. Tom won in both ALMS and LMS racing. He was classified 5th in the 2005 British Touring Car Championship season despite only starting 24 of the 30 races. Chilton's involvement with Zytek continued, subject to funding and availability; Tom and his brother Max drove the car at the Silverstone 1000 km in September 2007.
VX Racing signed him for 2006 to drive the #5 Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch. In a disappointing season for Vauxhall, Tom never won a race and slipped to 7th overall. However, Vauxhall retained Chilton and Fabrizio Giovanardi for 2007, but Tom did not want to stay at VX Racing in 2008.
He left to partner Gordon Shedden at Team Dynamics for the 2008 BTCC season and replacing VX Racing-bound Matt Neal. In the final round of the championship, Chilton won his first race since round 25 of the 2005 season with a dominant victory at Brands Hatch. This also ensured his tenth place in the championship.
For 2009 Chilton returned to Arena Motorsport to drive a Ford Focus ST in the BTCC under the Team Aon banner, but spent much of the year developing the car. He has remained with the team for 2010. The LPG-powered car has been more competitive, taking four of the first five poles, but bad luck meant team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole took better results than Chilton initially. Both were on the podium in race two at Snetterton.[2] At Silverstone the team was dominant, and Chilton was allowed to take both wins ahead of team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole.[3]
[edit] World Touring Car Championship
Chilton will make his debut in the World Touring Car Championship in 2012, driving for the Arena Motorsport team with their Ford Focus 1.6T car.[4]
[edit] TV appearances
He was one of many racing drivers rumoured to be The Stig on BBC2 show Top Gear, after the previous Stig revealed his identity.
He has appeared in five series of Top Gear. In Series 5, Episode 5, he was one of the drivers in the People Carrier Race. He then again appeared in the first episode of series 6 as one of the drivers in the Toyota Aygo football match. More recently he has appeared in Series 10 episode 6 when he raced a Chevrolet motorhome with other touring car drivers as well as Richard Hammond. In Series 12 episode 5 he raced (and then rolled over) a double decker bus, and had earlier on in the episode raced against Jeremy Clarkson whilst driving a BMW M3. On 6 December 2009, he appeared in a further episode of Top Gear, racing against other touring car drivers in airport vehicles.
In 2009 he appeared with Anthony Reid in a music video for singer-songwriter Andy J Gallagher.[5]
Chilton also appeared on ITV's Take Me Out on 23 January 2010.
[edit] References
- ^ Aston, Heath (2008-08-23). "Business big shot: Grahame Chilton". The Times (News International). http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/article4592854.ece. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
- ^ "Plato doubles up". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 2010-08-08. http://www.crash.net/btcc/race+report/162285/1/plato_doubles_up.html. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ "Chilton doubles up in controversial fashion". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 2010-08-22. http://www.crash.net/btcc/race+report/162616/1/chilton_doubles_up_in_controversial_fashion.html. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
- ^ Hudson, Neil (4 January 2012). "Arena complete shakedown with 1.6 turbo WTCC Focus". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=7114. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
- ^ "Moonlighting telly crew". Top Gear (BBC). 2009-06-04. http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2009/06/04/moonlighting-telly-crew/. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
[edit] External links
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