Tom Onslow-Cole joins three car West Surrey Racing team

Rob Collard and Nick Foster will be joined by Tom Onslow-Cole for the 2012 British Touring Car Championship season, as the 24-year-old returns to the team which launched his BTCC career in 2007.

West Surrey Racing won the 2009 drivers’ and independent drivers’ championship with Colin Turkington, and have since run a partial WTCC programme alongside their two years in the BTCC with drivers Rob Collard, Andy Neate and Nick Foster.

Tom Onslow-Cole first raced for the Sunbury-on-Thames based team after graduating from the Renault Clio Cup UK, taking his first win at Snetterton that season and his since raced for VX Racing, AmD Tuning and Arena Motorsport.

“I’m excited to be joining eBay Motors for the 2012 season and to again be part of the WSR team with such a history of success,” said Onslow-Cole.

“This season I am looking to challenge for regular podiums as we certainly have the car to be at the front of the grid. I am counting down the days until the new season and can’t wait to get started at Brands Hatch’s opening round on 1 April.”

The team will run under the eBay Motors banner, and with a turbocharged Next Generation Touring Car-specification engine based on the 2.0 litre BMW unit, developed by new engine partners Neil Brown. Neil Brown Engineering are also developing the engines for Honda Racing Team and Eurotech Racing this year, and produced the turbocharged engine which powered Matt Neal to the 2011 title.

“I believe eBay Motors has a very strong driver line-up for this year’s championship,” said West Surrey Racing Team Principal Dick Bennetts. “We have worked with Rob, Nick and Tom in the past and together they make a fantastic team.”

“We have been busy developing the cars over the winter, which will have new BMW turbocharged engines developed by Neil Brown Engineering. With the prospect of added horsepower and torque alongside our in-depth understanding of the BMW chassis we are expecting a very competitive season.”