Team HARD yesterday announced that Paul O’Neil and Tom Onslow-Cole will not be racing in the next round of the MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Paul will not be competing behind the wheel because of his television commitments with ITV who show the BTCC races live on ITV4.

Team Principal Tony Gilham was quick to point out that with Paul not getting behind the wheel for the Rockingham race, it doesn’t mean that he won’t be racing for Team Hard in 2013.

The two parties have spoken at length and were keen to work together and show what the team and Paul can do behind the wheel of the Vauxhall Insignia.

Tony and his team are working hard behind the scenes to put together a package for 2014 that would see Paul return to the BTCC full time for 2014.

The team have introduced a competition to assist Paul with getting a long term drive with the team and you can enter here www.owhard.co.uk

Meanwhile the team have taken the decision with Tom Onslow-Cole not to compete in the final three rounds of the season, and to focus on developing the car for 2014.

Speaking about what was a tough decision to take Tony Gilham, said: “It’s another difficult decision that we’ve had to make, but we just feel that our investment in Tom would be better spent on making sure the car is moving forward ahead of a real assault in 2014.

“We have a three year deal with Tom, which is a long-term relationship in the BTCC, so it’s the right time to make a decision that we believe will give him the chance to fight for a title next season and beyond.

“We believe in the car and it has obviously scored podiums already this season. The car will still be utilised on race weekends for us to develop some of our young VW Cup drivers, with more details coming on that soon, but we need to be able to put Tom through an extensive winter testing programme that we believe will ensure the Passat can fight consistently at the front at all circuits.”

Despite only being 26-years-old Tom has already won seven races and competed in over 180 races, this season he has finished on the podium in his Passat.

Whilst Tom is disappointed to be missing the final three races of the season, he is clearly confident that 2014 is going to be a good year for both him and Team HARD.

He said: “When you look at the project we’ve had a great first season with the VW Passat. To score podiums in one of the first events of the season was great, but it has been tough to develop the car over race weekends. Ideally we needed to have had a full testing programme but of course the car was brand new on the eve of the season.

“Financially we could finish the season, but then not have the backing we believe is needed in order to test the car significantly over the winter. I’m a racer so it’s always tough to make a decision that means we won’t be racing for the rest of the year, but if it gives both the team and I the best possible chance of winning in 2014 then it has to be the right decision.”

Tom will still be at the race weekends and will be meeting the fans so he will definitely be involved in the final three race weekends, and it promises to be a bright future for Tom and Team HARD.