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Tony Gilham Racing

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United Kingdom Tony Gilham Racing
Founded2012
Team principal(s)Tony Gilham
Current seriesVW Racing Cup
Ginetta GT4 Supercup
Renault Clio Cup UK
Britcar Endurance Championship
GT Cup Championship
Noted driversBobby Thompson
Jack Goff
Michael Crees
Carl Boardley
Tom Barley
Darron Lewis
Simon Rudd
Jade Edwards
Max Coates
Tom Knight
Michael Epps
Toby Davis
Nicolas Hamilton
Howard Fuller
Mike Bushell
Websiteteam-hard.com
Tony Gilham driving for Team HARD in the 2012 British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton.
Jake Hill driving for Team HARD in the 2017 British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill.
Team HARD entered two Ginetta G55 Supercup cars in the 2019 Britcar night races at Brands Hatch.
A Ginetta G55 Supercup run by Team HARD, driven by Joshua Jackson and Simon Orange and competing in the GT Cup Championship.
A Porsche 991 GT3 Cup run by Team HARD, Ben Clayden and Sam Randon and competing in the GT Cup Championship.

Tony Gilham Racing (Team HARD. Racing), competing as Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD., Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils. and Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown. currently, is a British motor racing team based in Dartford, Kent and founded by Tony Gilham. The team raced under the Team HARD. banner in the British Touring Car Championship until the end of 2013. They now compete in the British Touring Car Championship, Volkswagen Racing Cup, Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Mini Challenge UK and the GT Cup series.

British Touring Car Championship

2012–2020

In February 2012, Gilham announced he had purchased a Super 2000 Honda Civic from Team Dynamics.[1] The following month he announced the formation of Tony Gilham Racing which would run the car in the 2012 British Touring Car Championship season under the RCIB Insurance & HARD. banner.[2] Gilham started on pole position for the reversed grid race at Thruxton but having already slipped down to third, he damaged the car and retired from the race.[3] Gilham took the first podium finish for the team at Donington Park in race three after Mat Jackson was disqualified, finishing third behind Gordon Shedden and Jason Plato. Robb Holland took over the car for the meetings at Snetterton and Knockhill.[4] Holland failed to finish his first race when he collided with the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis of Adam Morgan. Former Formula Renault BARC driver Howard Fuller raced the car in the meetings at Rockingham and Silverstone.[5] He achieved a best result of eleventh in the first and third races at Silverstone. Prior to the final round of the season at Brands Hatch, Tony Gilham Racing bought a full NGTC–spec Vauxhall Insignia from Thorney Motorsport along with an incomplete shell which would be built up over the winter.[6] Gilham raced the Insignia at Brands Hatch and former Ginetta GT Supercup driver Aaron Williamson drove the Honda Civic.[7]

In December 2012, Team HARD. announced the development of an NGTC Volkswagen CC to compete in the 2013 season which would run alongside a pair of Vauxhall Insignias and the S2000 Honda Civic.[8] The team signed series rookie Jack Goff to drive the first of the Insignias later that month.[9] The first of the Volkswagen CC drivers was announced at the beginning of January 2013 with Tom Onslow-Cole joining the team from eBay Motors in a three-year deal.[citation needed] The second Insignia seat was filled by former FIA Formula Two Championship driver James Cole.[10] Robb Holland will return to the team for a minimum of two rounds which do not clash with his drive in the World Touring Car Championship.[11] The team sold their S2000 Honda Civic prior to the start of the 2013 season in order to focus on starting the season with three NGTC cars.[12] The team ran their cars under two names, the Vauxhall Insignias were run under the RCIB Insurance Racing banner and the Volkswagen CCs were run under the PPCGB.com/Kraftwerk Racing banner.[13]

Howard Fuller and Robb Holland were due to share the other Volkswagen, however this never occurred and from Snetterton onwards the team entered partnership with Team BMR Restart by supplying them with a NGTC Volkswagen CC (the team had previously been running outdated S2000 machinery).[14] Onslow Cole managed to grab three podiums at Thruxton and Croft while his teammates struggled to make it into the top 10 in their insignias. James Cole left the team in July and he was replaced by Robb Holland. Scottish Legends racer Kieran Gallagher replaced Holland for the Knockhill round, little over a year since Gallagher gained his racing licence.[15] Goff decided to miss the Knockhill round in order to save his sponsorship budget with Paul O'Neill stepping in .[16] Goff returned for the Rockingham round while Howard Fuller took the second Insignia.[17] Onslow-Cole left the team and joined Motorbase the final three rounds of the season [18] In the final race of the year at Brands Hatch Jack Goff finished second after battling with reigning champion Gordon Shedden for the lead. The two teams managed to accumulate 4 podiums between them and finish 9th and 11th in the championship respectively.

Before the start of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship season, Tony Gilham Racing merged with Team BMR to form Team BMR Racing.[19] Goff was confirmed as their first driver, racing under the RCIB Insurance Racing banner in a Vauxhall Insignia.[20]

By the mid way point of the 2014 season at Snetterton Warren Scott and his Team BMR racing team had severed all ties with Tony Gilham Racing after purchasing all of the teams assets including the pair of Vauxhall Insignia's and Volkswagen Passat CC's. From that round onwards the team continued to run under the Chrome Edition Restart Racing Banner fielding four Volkswagens for Scott, Alain Menu, Aron Smith and Jack Goff. Tony Gilham and Team Hard re-emerged at the start of the 2015 season with a single car entry after a deal was done with United Autosports to acquire one of their Toyota Avensis' that was previously raced by Frank Wrathall. Scot Kieran Gallagher has raced the Avensis at each round with a string of poor results to date, with the car not even taking to the grid on several occasions, as the team and driver continue to struggle with budget issues.

Cupra Leon (2021–)

The team will introduce the Cupra brand to the BTCC for the first time in 2021 after announcing Jack Goff, Glynn Geddie and Aron Taylor-Smith will drive three brand new Cupra Leons.

BTCC Results

British Touring Car Championship results
Year Team name Car Drivers Wins Podiums Poles Fastest laps Points D.C. T.C. I.D.C. I.T.C.
2012 RCIB Insurance Racing Vauxhall Insignia Tony Gilham 0 0 0 0 71 17th 11th 14th 8th
Honda Civic 0 1 0 0
Howard Fuller 0 0 0 0 16 24th 21st
Aaron Williamson 0 0 0 0 2 27th 23rd
Robb Holland 0 0 0 0 6 26th 22nd
2013 RCIB Insurance Racing Vauxhall Insignia
Robb Holland 0 0 0 0 3 31st 11th 28th 8th
Jack Goff 0 1 0 0 73 17th 13th
James Cole 0 0 0 0 11 21st 18th
Howard Fuller 0 0 0 0 6 26th 20th
Kieran Gallagher 0 0 0 0 3 28th 30th
Tom Barley 0 0 0 0 0 35th 32nd
Paul O'Neill 0 0 0 0 0 NC NC
PPCGB.com/Kraftwerk Racing Volkswagen CC Tom Onslow-Cole 0 3 0 0 116 12th 9th 7th 7th
Aiden Moffat 0 0 0 0 3 30th 23rd
Andy Wilmot 0 0 0 0 0 38th 32nd
2015 RCIB Insurance Racing Toyota Avensis
Kieran Gallagher 0 0 0 0 1 30th 18th 22nd 15th
Tony Gilham 0 0 0 0 1 32nd 23rd
2016 RCIB Insurance Racing Toyota Avensis
Michael Epps 0 0 0 0 23 24th 11th 22nd 5th
Jake Hill 0 0 0 0 83 17th 23rd
TLC Racing
Chris Smiley 0 0 0 0 0 30th 18th 20th 14th
Michael Caine 0 0 0 0 0 33rd 24th
Tony Gilham 0 0 0 0 0 35th 23rd
2017 Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing Volkswagen CC
Michael Epps 0 0 0 0 77 17th 13th 8th 5th
Will Burns 0 0 0 0 0 35th 18th
TAG Racing Jake Hill 0 0 0 0 63 20th 15th 10th 11th
2018 Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing Volkswagen CC
Mike Bushell 0 0 0 0 59 24th 16th 16th 10th
Jake Hill 0 1 0 0 29 26th 19th
Daniel Welch 0 0 0 0 0 37th 26th
Ollie Pidgley 0 0 0 0 0 38th 27th
Team HARD with Trade Price Cars
Bobby Thompson 0 0 0 0 23 28th 21st 17th 14th
Michael Caine 0 0 0 0 0 36th 24th
Carl Boardley 0 0 0 0 0 NC NC
Ethan Hammerton 0 0 0 0 0 39th 28th
2019 GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct Volkswagen CC
Bobby Thompson 0 0 0 1 35 22nd 15th 11th 9th
Michael Crees 0 0 0 0 11 26th 19th
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport
Jack Goff 1 1 0 1 47 21st 14th 12th 7th
Carl Boardley 0 0 0 0 5 29th 15th
2020 RCiB Insurance with Fox Transport Volkswagen CC Jack Goff 0 0 0 0 11 23rd 14th 16th 9th
Mike Bushell 0 0 0 0 1 27th 21st
Glynn Geddie 0 0 0 0 1 29th 23rd
Tom Onslow-Cole 0 0 0 0 0 31st 26th
Ollie Brown 0 0 0 0 3 25th 25th
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. Nicolas Hamilton 0 0 0 0 1 28th 16th 24th 13th
HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD BMW 125i Carl Boardley 0 0 0 0 18 21st 13th 15th 11th
2021 Team HARD with Autobrite Direct Cupra León Jack Mitchell
Jack Goff
Glynn Geddie
ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading Nicolas Hamilton
Team HARD with HUB Financial Solutions Árón Taylor-Smith
2022 Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero Cupra León Carl Boardley
Tom Oliphant
Bobby Thompson
Will Powel
Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing Nicolas Hamilton
Árón Taylor-Smith
2023 Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD Cupra León Dexter Patterson
Jade Edwards
Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils Bobby Thompson
Dan Lloyd
Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown Nicolas Hamilton
Jack Butel
Year Team name Car Drivers Wins Podiums Poles Fastest laps Points D.C. T.C. I.D.C. I.T.C.

Britcar Endurance Championship

Ginetta G55 GT4

Team HARD entered Britcar, for the 'Into-the-Night' race at Brands Hatch, at the end of the 2016 season with two Ginetta G55 GT4s. The cars were entered as invitation entries, ineligible to score points, in Class 3, with Darron Lewis and Daniel Wylie alongside Tom Knight and Dan Kirby. Lewis and Wylie qualified 8th on the grid while Knight and Kirby were 11th on row 6. Lewis and Wylie finished the 3-hour race 7th overall with Knight and Kirby finishing 9th.

For 2017, Team HARD made a quadruple car entry, in the Endurance category in Class 3, for the first round at Silverstone, with Simon Rudd and Tom Barley,[21] Darron Lewis and Tom Knight,[22] Angus Dudley and Callum Hawkins-Row[23] and Toby Bearne and Daniel Wylie. At the end of the season, Lewis and Knight were 2nd in the Endurance championship, 19 points behind Witt Gamski and Ross Wylie, Rudd and Barley finished 3rd while Dudley and Hawkins-Row were further behind on points in 5th. In Class 3, Team HARD made it a 1-2-3 in the points standings.

In 2018, the first round at Rockingham saw Team HARD bring in three G55s in Class 3, to compete in the Endurance category, the duo of Simon Rudd and Tom Barley, Darron Lewis and Adam Hatfield and invitation entry of Graham Roberts and Ben Wallace. During the course of the season, there was only one driver change for Simon Rudd, Sam Randon in round 4 at Donington Park. Through the whole season, the car piloted by Hatfield and Lewis had multiple driver changes, in the form of Callum Hawkins-Row, Sam Randon, Angus Dudley, Nick Scott-Dickeson and Ryan Harper-Ellam. The driver changes meant varying positions where the car finished, but with only one non-finish. At the end of the season, Rudd and Barley finished 2nd in the Endurance championship standings overall 12 points behind Matt Greenwood and Sarah Moore, but were 1st in Class 3. The second of Team HARD's cars was 4th overall in the championship 8 points behind Mike McCollum and Sean Cooper and third in Class 3.

The team did not participate in the opening rounds of 2019, only confirming an entry at the end of the season, competing in the 'Into-the-Night' races at Brands Hatch with Nick Scott-Dickeson joined by Steve Chandler[24] and Ben Clayden driving with ex-BTCC driver Michael Epps.

BTCC Cars

In 2017, Adam Hatfield drove an ex-BTCC Volkswagen Passat at Donington Park in round 5, he qualified 24th, finishing 15th in race one but retiring before completing the second 50-minute sprint race. Hatfield competed in the next round at Oulton Park in a Toyota Avensis.[25] He qualified 15th on the grid, finishing the race in 10th place and 2nd in the Sprint category. In the 50-minute Sprint race he placed 5th overall. For the annual 'Into-the-Night' races at Brands Hatch, Jesse Chamberlain and Ben Wallace drove the Avensis, qualifying 23rd on the grid, finishing 14th overall in the first race and 4th overall in the Sprint race.[26]

In 2018, Sam Randon and Michael Crees drove the Avensis again in the night races at Brands Hatch. They qualified 14th on the grid for the race, but retired from the first race due to mechanical issues. They managed to move up from the back of the grid and finished 3rd overall in the Endurance race.

References

  1. ^ "Turbo Honda for Gilham". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 17 February 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  2. ^ "Gilham announces 2012 plans". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 16 March 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  3. ^ Woods, Chelsea (29 April 2012). "Gordon Shedden leads Honda 1-2 in race three at Thruxton". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  4. ^ "American Holland joins HARD". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 11 July 2012. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  5. ^ "Rookie for Rockingham". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 10 September 2012. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Team Hard purchase TWO Insignia VXR-R's". ThorneyMotorsport.co.uk. Thorney Motorsport. 15 October 2012. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  7. ^ Turner, Kevin (16 October 2012). "Tony Gilham planning to field three cars car in the BTCC in 2013". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  8. ^ Mitchell, Scott (10 December 2012). "Gilham's Game Changer as Team-HARD. Announced NGTC Passat Project". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia Network. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  9. ^ "Goff signs with HARD". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 19 December 2012. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  10. ^ "James Cole joins HARD". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 3 January 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  11. ^ Gilham, Tony (13 January 2013). "Robb Returns to HARD". Tony Gilham Racing. Tony Gilham. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  12. ^ Hudson, Neil (23 January 2013). "Tony Gilham Racing sells S2000 Honda Civic". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  13. ^ "BTCC announces record entry". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 21 March 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  14. ^ "BTCC :: Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  15. ^ "BTCC welcomes Legends racer". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 6 August 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  16. ^ "Paul O'Neill returns". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 9 August 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  17. ^ "Fuller's focus". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 4 September 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  18. ^ "BTCC :: Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  19. ^ "Welcome to Team BMR BTCC". Team BMR. TeamBMR.com. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  20. ^ "GOFF RETURNS WITH RCIB INSURANCE RACING". British Touring Car Championship. TOCA. 22 January 2014. Archived from the original on 22 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  21. ^ "TeamHARD Announce Ginetta G55 Drivers for Britcar in 2017". Britcar Endurance. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  22. ^ "Second Team HARD Ginetta Driver Pairing Announced". Britcar Endurance. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  23. ^ "Team HARD confirm exciting young pairing for 3rd entry". Britcar Endurance. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  24. ^ "Scott-Dickesøn joins 'Into the Night' Finale". Britcar Endurance. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  25. ^ "Adam Hatfield to debut BTCC machinery in Britcar". Britcar Endurance. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  26. ^ "BTCC Night Rider for Team HARD". Britcar Endurance. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
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