Tony Gilham steps in for Team HARD at Rockingham

Team HARD boss Tony Gilham will return to action in the BTCC this weekend at Rockingham after injury ruled Michael Caine out of the eighth meeting of the year.

Caine was forced to sit out two of the three races at Knockhill after an old back injury flared up, and has now been forced to stand down from his drive for this weekend on medical advice.

As such, Gilham will return to action for the first time since Finals Day last season but was keen to stress an ongoing commitment to the partnership with Caine, who himself joined the team as a replacement for Chris Smiley.

“Michael’s had a flare up of an old back injury,” he said. “It had previously been operated on and corrected, but he felt pain in race one back at Knockhill. It’s a shame for Michael and ourselves but it’s a long-term project with him and his sponsors as we look to 2017 and beyond.

“I’ll be stepping into the breech for this weekend – you could definitely say I’ve been thrown in at the deep end!”

Gilham added that he was keen to try and push towards the points on his return to the series, with the team boss keen to try and work with youngsters Jake Hill and Michael Epps to get as far up the grid as possible.

“It’ll definitely be tricky but I’m looking forward to it – I always look forward to getting back into a racing car, especially a British Touring Car, and going racing again,” he said. “It’ll certainly be a weekend that’s a bit of a learning process for me.

“I’ll be working closely with our guys – Mike and Jake – to try and glean as much as I can before going out competitively in quali. They’ve been on it this season so they’ll be a real help.

“It would be nice to notch a point maybe, I’ll see what I can do. We’ll find out if there’s still a bit of life in the old dog yet!”