Simon Belcher planning to miss three meetings after Croft

Simon Belcher is planning to step down from driving duties for three meetings after this weekend’s BTCC round at Croft, after being forced to spend £40,000 of his season budget repairing his Toyota Avensis after a major accident at Thruxton.

Belcher’s Avensis was heavily damaged in an incident with Mike Bushell in qualifying at Thruxton, with his Speedworks Motorsport squad burning the midnight oil to repair and re-shell the car to be ready for Oulton Park three weeks ago.

But as a result of the hole this leaves in his budget, Belcher is in talks with “a number of experienced BTCC competitors” for the rounds at Snetterton, Knockhill and Rockingham. Whoever races the Avensis will receive a part-subsidised drive thanks to the 41-year-old’s long-term sponsors.

“Stepping aside from racing after Croft hasn’t been an easy decision to reach personally, we’ve discussed this at length as a team and bringing in another driver is definitely the best move for the immediate and long term future of Handy Motorsport”, said Belcher.

“Our plan is to be in the BTCC for the long term and to grow the team, so it makes absolute sense to look at putting another driver – who can bring some budget – in the car for a few races while we rebalance everything.

“We’re talking to a number of drivers and we’ll then need to get everything approved by TOCA. Ideally, we want to announce my replacement during the run up to Snetterton after the summer break. It will be a part-subsidised drive as funding is in place from our existing sponsorship base, so that offers us a great opportunity to talk to a wide variety of drivers – some with BTCC experience.”

Any driver change will need to be ratified by series bosses, as theoretically the move could lead to Belcher losing his TOCA BTCC Licence (TBL) as he is vacating his seat.