Gareth Howell returns at Thruxton

Gareth Howell returns to the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton in place of Stuart Oliver this weekend.
Howell was originally to stand in for team leader Chris Stockton, but Stockton managed to change his plans for this weekend, leaving Howell supposedly without a drive.

But at the last minute Oliver has had a change of plan, so Howell will start afterall.

Howell last raced a Touring Car in anger last season in the car that is currently driven by Stockton. Then the Toledo’s were run by Motorbase Performance in their first full season in the BTCC.

Ironically his team mate from last season Matt Allison, only yesterday announced that he will be standing down from the championship due to bugetary problems.

Howell told BTCC.net: “Chris saw how well the Toledo went and soon changed his mind about Thruxton!

“I’ll actually be in my 2007 team-mate Matt Allison’s car which is identical to the one I raced so hopefully I’ll soon be able to blow the cobwebs away.

“Stuart can’t do this one, I’m back and it feels great but I’m not in it just to do well for myself – I’ve been working hard with BTC since the start of the season and the key goal has to be to build on the very promising showing at Donington.

“Bear in mind Chris effectively missed both practice sessions at Donington with a clutch problem but still bounced back and got an eighth. That is impressive for a privateer team with no previous running with the car.”

Howell’s best performance last season was at Thruxton when he was running as high as fifth. He has been seen in the Britcar and VdeV series this year but his ultimate goal is to return to the BTCC.

“There’s nothing like the BTCC,” he added. “Whether or not I can get myself into a similar position at Thruxton this time around remains to be seen – the whole grid has moved forward and there are more competitive cars out there.

“Above all, I want to keep out of trouble and hopefully end up with a good starting position for race three… and then fight like hell!”

Howell will start at Thruxton with the number 44 on his car.