Kent’s Team Hard Racing have today annouced the arrival of Jack Butel ahead of the 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Chsmpionship.

Butel, a points scorer in each of his three seasons in the series, follows fellow new recruit, Dan Lloyd in joining the team from EXCELR8 for the coming season.

The 26-year-old Jerseyman will be entering his fourth season in the UK’s premier Motorsport series after making his debut with Ciceley Motorsport in 2020. Prior to the move into the BTCC, Butel primarily competed in single-seaters and sportcar racing in series such as the British F4, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and British GT.

Butel will be looking to use his BTCC experience to put a disappointing 2022 campaign behind him and focus on battling it out for the Jack Sears Trophy, which is only open to drivers without an overall BTCC podium and was won by Butels’ new teammate, Bobby Thompson in 2022.

Speaking about the move, Butel said: “I’m back again for another crack at the BTCC and I’m delighted to be able to move across to Team HARD. for this season. It’s something that I have been looking at doing for a while but our paths have never quite aligned.

“I’ve watched the team grow stronger and stronger over the years and now is a great time to join them. The Cupra looks fast, there is a buzz around the team and having met a lot of the staff, I know we are going to have a great relationship as we push the team on even further this year.

“They have a great driver line-up this year and I’m excited to start working with the likes of Bobby and Dexter who were very quick last season as well as linking up with Dan once again who I worked well with last year. Combining all of these factors, I’m confident of a really strong debut season with Team HARD.

“For another season I would like to thank my partner FEBI Bilstein, Blueprint and Platinum Batteries who have shown their continued support for a third consecutive year, I wouldn’t be here without their support.”

Team Owner Tony Gilham was delighted to get a driver he has wanted to drive for his team for sometime.

He added: “Jack is a great lad and we’ve been in talks for a few years now to try and get him into one of our Cupra Leons. I’m delighted to say that 2023 is that year, and we can’t wait to work on making this season the most successful year for Jack in the BTCC to date. He is a driver that we really believe in and we are confident that he will be able to challenge consistently for the Jack Sears this season to help up defend the title won by Bobby in 2022.

“It’s been a very busy off-season for the team with lots of advancements in not only our driver line-up but also our engineering department. The Cupra showed lots of potential in 2022 and we are looking to take the next step towards the front. Jack’s experience in the series is only going to help that progress after spending two years developing the Hyundai i30 Fastback.

“We have a fantastic driver line-up for this season and Jack is going to slip in fantastically with the culture we have developed at Team HARD. over the past couple of years. The whole team can’t wait for the season to start!”