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American Holland set for BTCC return at Snetterton

Robb Holland became the first American to take on the British-based touring car series last year.

Robb Holland, Team HARD

Robb Holland, Team HARD

Pat Cranham

American racer Robb Holland is set to return to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, for the second time following his two meetings last year, and will compete once again for Team Hard this time driving one of their Vauxhall Insignias.

Holland became the first American to take to the grid since 1975 when he drove for Tony Gilham’s outfit this time last year at Snetterton for the first of his two meetings, when he drove the teams S2000 Honda Civic. This time round he will get to drive the Insignia built to the latest Next Generation Touring Car format following the departure of regular Team Hard driver James Cole.

Holland was originally pencilled in to race the team’s second VW Passat for selected rounds before he announced plans to enter the World Touring Car Championship, driving an ex Team Aon Ford Focus for Rotek Racing with whom he contests the VLN championship.

Team Hard Vauxhall Insignia
Team Hard Vauxhall Insignia

Photo by: Pat Cranham

However Holland has now put his WTCC plans on hold for the time being and is delighted the chance has arisen to return to the BTCC. For now the drive is for one weekend only however Holland admits that the BTCC is definitely a great long term possibility and said, "I've said before that I feel the BTCC is Europe's premier national touring car series and deservedly gets a lot of international television coverage.”

“It is no secret that Rotek Racing's World Championship plans for their Ford Focuses are currently being reviewed and a big reason for doing the Snetterton meeting is to try out an NGTC car under race conditions. Should Rotek's plans change, a full season next year in the BTCC would be a great alternative and something I would be pushing very hard for them to consider.”

Holland has already had his first taste of the Insignia at Snetterton competing in the recent Dunlop tyre test at Snetterton before getting a brief run in the car last Friday at Brands Hatch.

Holland now admits that he can’t wait to return to the series driving the latest spec car following his debut at the circuit last year and finished off by saying, “I’m really looking forward to returning to the BTCC at Snetterton. It's a great track.”

“I raced there last year and while I had a bit of an up and down weekend Tony Gilham and I both enjoyed the experience of working together and agreed that we'd do it again if we could. I tested the Insignia a couple of weeks ago at Snetterton and again last Friday at Brands Hatch. Even though I only got a few laps in on the Thruxton compound tyres, it was enough to get a feel for the car. The Insignia is exciting to drive, quite unlike anything I've driven before and I loved it.”

Team boss Gilham is also pleased to have Holland back on board and was pleased with his performance during the recent test and has high hopes for him this weekend and said, "Robb is a big character and we love working with him. After a successful brief outing in the newly built Insignia for the recent tyre test we have high hopes going in to the next race weekend. Robb showed very strong pace in only the short run he had and together we'll be looking to be fighting for some strong top 10 results.”

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