Tony Gilham returned to the British Touring Car Championship this season with Team Hard both as team principal and then as driver.

It was a welcome return for Tony and the much loved family team and the season whilst being a learning curve it was enjoyable, especially getting behind the wheel after three years away

Speaking to Kent Sports News after the dust had settled on the season, Tony said: “It is always amazing to be involved in British Touring Cars, it is a dream for all racing drivers.

“Obviously it was completely unexpected and more special having been thrown in at the deep end a little bit, it was an amazing experience.”

The initial target for Tony when he got behind the wheel of the Toyota Avensis was for him to be finishing in the top twenty, which he exceeded with a point finish at Silverstone.

He added: “There are twenty-five plus drivers on the grid who are setting up targeting the podium so it is very competitive championship and so it should be. The British Touring Cars is the top series in the country in terms of exposure.

“To come in there after three years out of the seat and to be in the mix in all races, because even at Brands Hatch we were mixing it with Menu and those who have finished on podiums, so it was a very nice place to be.”

In that final round at Brands Hatch Tony was mixing it up and racing with championships and former champions and that is what the BTCC is all about.

“It was really good, and I didn’t really realise that Goff and Jordan were racing for positions and I sort of let them go and didn’t want to jeopardise their lap times as I thought they might have been a lap down.

“We were a little bit like the walking wounded at the time as we had picked up a bit of damage at the weekend unfortunately. There were a few incidents on track from the front to the back of the field so it was quite an interesting weekend.

“The biggest problem that we had all weekend was the car was noisy so we had to fit a silencer which seemed to hamper our straight line speed, so pretty much everyone was driving past us in a straight line. You don’t want to be giving anything away at any level of racing let alone in the British Touring Cars, so that was a bit of a frustration, we tried to manage it and do the best job that we could.”

It was one of the most entertaining race weekends to watch at home and on TV with plenty of action all the way through the field, with bumps and offs in every race.

Tony said: “100% we were trying to stay out of trouble the last thing that we wanted was damage and to finish the season. Obviously during the season these cars have had a fair amount of damage, and we were expecting there to be some at Brands Hatch, as it was the last race of the season but we wanted to keep it clean.

“In race two we found ourselves stuck up behind Gordon Sheddon at the end and he was like the walking wounded and so were we. Although at that stage of the race we were quicker than him but I didn’t want to put a move on him so we just sat there. I wasn’t there to cause any problems or do anything silly and cause any damage to Gordon or his car.”

Before returning to the car at Brands Hatch Tony returned to the series as a team boss and admits that he has learnt a lot during the season.

He added: “Touring cars is the place to be and yes we have one car now opposed to four but that doesn’t matter, it is still touring cars.

“Unfortunately the year hasn’t gone as we would have liked, with an inexperienced touring car driver we did expect to be towards the back of the grid. We did score some points, as the season progressed we did change the engine and there were some reliability issues with the touring car engine.

“However they had been bought there was a reliability issue so we made the decision to make the switch to Swindon and unfortunately picked up a massive amount of damage at Rockingham. Essentially we had to build the car from scratch again, which then led to the driver change.

“We are back on the grid, we have got our licence and we have got to the end of the season and we look to the future and coming back stronger for next year.

“Being back behind the seat for three years I thought that the game would have moved on massively but it hadn’t and it was a proud moment for me to have a bit of pace and at the same time we have developed the car in the last two weekends more than we have had all year.

“I do have a little bit more experience and it was a little bit more productive in terms of feedback to the team after races. Looking forward to next year we would like a proven driver and take the team to the next level, whether that is myself or another driver but we do really want to push forward next year.”

The 2015 season may have just finished but Tony and everyone else are looking towards the 2016 and their own plans.

“2016 has started already, we have already started our plans for next year, and we are talking to sponsors and drivers and people about what car we might run next year. Whether we continuing with the Toyota and you go through the upgrades and we have already done the deal with the engines.

“As a small family team we are not in a bad place, obviously there has been a lot of ups and downs on and off track some of which is out of our control but that won’t happen going forwards as things are going to change for next season.”

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