Jack Goff “considering all options” for 2019

Jack Goff says he is considering all of his options for the 2019 season with the possibility that he will be forced to move away from the British Touring Car Championship.

The 27-year-old finished eighth in the standings last year but was then left without a drive when Eurotech Racing elected to make a shock withdrawal from the series, with team boss Jeff Smith selling his two Honda Civic Type Rs to AmD.

Since then, the former Clio Cup title winner has been linked with a number of drives on the grid but has yet to agree a deal and admitted he was getting towards the position where he now needs to evaluate potential offers from elsewhere.

“This time last year everything was done in terms of my deal and it was a case of sorting out the finer details like my race suit,” Goff told TouringCarTimes at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham. “Since the week after Brands Hatch when Jeff announced he was selling the cars, I’ve been without a drive.

“We’re working hard behind the scenes but have nothing to talk about yet and we need to just keep trying to see what we can find. If something comes up, then great but it’s a tough situation to be in. You might get a deal on the table from a team, but if you don’t have the financial backing to commit to it at that time, then you can’t.

“I can see it from both sides because teams need to bring in the money and want to get their drivers firmed up early, but I’m not in a position to be able to do that right now. We have to keep working to get the budget sorted out and see what options remain.

“It is getting to the stage where I need to look at the bigger picture. Everyone can see that there aren’t many seats left on the BTCC grid and I have to realise that there is a life elsewhere outside the paddock, be that in the UK or somewhere in Europe.”

Goff added that he felt he still has unfinished business in the series but admitted that any future deal had to be one that would work commercially for his sponsors.

“If things had gone different last year we’d have been top three in the championship,” he said. “Without the engine going when we were on for a good result in race two at Brands GP for example, we would have had a much better return for the work we put in because the points were so close.

“In that respect, there is unfinished business for me, but if you look at the number of pole positions we scored in the last two years, our speed was never an issue – we just didn’t quite piece it together.

“I’ve had wins and plenty of podiums and I will be gutted if have to leave the BTCC paddock as it’s been a huge part of my life for a long time. But any potential drive for 2019 isn’t just about me as it also has to work commercially for my sponsors and we’ll keep pushing to put something together wherever that might be.”