Ricky Collard tests West Surrey Racing BMW at Silverstone
The son of BTCC stalwart Rob Collard, Ricky, tested for West Surrey Racing today at the Silverstone circuit, joining the team’s regular driver Colin Turkington in a run at the National configuration of the iconic UK track.
21-year-old Collard, a British Formula 3 graduate and last year a driver in the ADAC GT Masters series with BMW Team Schnitzer, drove his father’s 125i M Sport for 122 laps.
“I’ve been around the BTCC paddock for a long time through my Dad’s racing and always wanted to drive one, so I’m extremely grateful to have been given the chance to do this by WSR today,” he said.
“The car is quite a bit different to the GT3 and DTM BMWs I’ve driven this year, but the handling is fantastic and I can see why it’s won so many races and championships in the BTCC. It’s been an enjoyable day, but we’ll have to see if it leads to anything.”
Team principal Dick Bennetts added: “We were delighted to give Ricky a run in the BMW today and he performed well for a driver with no experience of a BTCC car. His technical feedback was extremely impressive, his lap times were very competitive and he clearly has a bright future. We’re yet to announce our full driver line-up for our BTCC title defence in 2018, so days like this help us with our evaluation process.”
