James Weaver returns to the BTCC as Hunter Abbott’s engineer

Former BTCC runner-up James Weaver is returning to the championship to take up the role of chief race engineer with Rob Austin Racing.

Weaver, also a renowned sportscar ace, will chiefly be overseeing Hunter Abbott’s Audi A4 in the 33-year-old’s fourth meeting in the series at Oulton Park this weekend.

Weaver became famous on the BBC’s flagship sports show Grandstand 25 years ago for some heated battles with Prodrive BMW team-mate Frank Sytner which arguably cost him the BTCC crown in 1989.

He then went on to a glittering career in sportscars with starring performances in the world-famous Le Mans 24 Hours and in America where he won numerous high profile races and championships.

His appointment will take some of the heat off team boss and driver Rob Austin, who has been engineering his and Abbott’s cars at the opening rounds of the 2014 season.

Weaver said: “I’m definitely coming along to fit in – certainly not with a new broom. While the majority of my career was in sportscars the principles remain basically the same.

“Hopefully I can take some load off Rob and that will translate into even better performance. I’ve not ‘worked’ in the BTCC paddock since 1989 so it will be nice to bump into some old faces.”

For Abbott, Oulton marks a return to the scene of his enormous fiery crash in 2008 in  which grabbed headlines in several national newspapers.

He said: “This will only be my fourth BTCC race event but I’ve been getting closer to Rob every time out in the opening three rounds and learning more and more about how to use the Dunlop tyres and the racecraft required in touring cars.

“I was also really happy with a test we did at Oulton several weeks ago – it was the first time I’d worked with James Weaver and he is going to be a very valuable addition to the team. I genuinely believe Rob and I should be in the hunt for top tens.”

Austin said: “So far it’s been me engineering both Audis but with James on board – he will chiefly be overseeing Hunter’s car – we will be able to devote much more time, knowledge and experience into looking through the data and improving performance.

“Someone of James’s experience is a massive asset to the team across all aspects – I’m sure the fans and media will enjoy having a former BTCC great being part of the pit lane as well.

“Both cars have undergone major rebuilds since the last event more than four weeks ago and we have new cooling packs which should improve the temperatures on the cars and help us squeeze that bit more power from the engines.

“With James on board and with a good sequence of circuits coming up our goals will be to make some huge progress.”