West Surrey Racing

West Surrey Racing is a UK-based motorsport team run by New Zealander Dick Bennetts. He is responsible for masterminding the careers of such names as Ayrton Senna, Mika Häkkinen, Jonathan Palmer, Rubens Barrichello, Maurício Gugelmin and Eddie Irvine with his involvement in F3 and a racing academy in the 80s and 90s. Founded in 1981, WSR has won more than 70 races in Formula 3 and more than 100 class and outright wins in the BTCC.

British Touring Car Championship

Ford

WSR moved to the BTCC in 1996 having been chosen to run the works Ford team, with Andy Rouse having left running the team to attempt to establish his own Nissan team. WSR worked in cooperation with Reynard Motorsport, who built the chassis while WSR ran the race team itself.^[1] The 1996 season was one of limited success, with Ford stalwart Paul Radisich partnered by Steve Robertson. The Mondeo had never really lived up to its hype since its inception in 1993, and Radisich ended the season 13th with 27 points, and Robertson 20th, with a paltry 2 points, even finishing lower than Independents Gary Ayles, Owen McAuley, Lee Brookes and Richard Kaye. The peak of this disappointment was possibly achieved at Round 1, when Radisich, who was running well down the order, crashed into teammate Robertson at turn 1, after Robertson had spun the car.

WSR Ford finished seventh in the Team's Championship, just ahead of the factory Peugeots of Tim Harvey and Patrick Watts.

For 1997, Radisich was partnered by departing Renault no. 2 Will Hoy, the 1991 British Touring Car Champion. Initially, an improved facelifted Mondeo was far from competitive. However, as the year continued, Hoy and Radisich were consistently fighting for points, and Radisich ended with 41 points to finish 13th, and Hoy 15th with 27 points in a mildly competitive season.

The team finished seventh in the Manufacturers' Championship, with 113 points.

Still working with Reynard, the 1998 season was much more promising. Paul Radisich left the team at the end of 1997, to join MSD Peugeot. The man who filled the vacant seat was fellow New Zealander Craig Baird, but after poor performances, Baird was occasionally replaced by Nigel Mansell, who at round 12 at a rain soaked Donington, provided one of the best races the Championship had ever witnessed. Having crashed off in race 1, and languishing at the back in race 2, Mansell gained his focus and charged through the field, and thanks to a safety car, was briefly leading. Eventually, Mansell finished fourth having allowed Derek Warwick through at the final corner, but was subsequently demoted to fifth, having passed under waved yellows. For Will Hoy, 1998 was a much improved year. In the still unfancied Mondeo, Hoy managed to finish in the top 10 of the Championship with 69 points, which included a brilliant race win at round 4, which was to be his last before his semi-retirement at the end of the season, and shock death in 2002. This was WSR's first win in Touring Cars, but it was not to be their last.

Mansell and Baird finished 18th (7 points) and 20th (6 points) respectively, with WSR rounding off their 3-year stint running the Ford team with their best ever season.

Honda

1999 and 2000 saw WSR running works Honda Accords, taking over from Prodrive, who in turn ran the Ford Team that West Surrey Racing had just run.

The 1999 season saw no changes to the driver line up, with James Thompson and Peter Kox keeping their drives. Thompson made an excellent start to the season, winning the opening race of the season from pole position. This was Kox's second full season in the championship, having made his debut in select races for BMW in 1996, and struggling the previous year. Nonetheless, both drivers had successes during the year; Thompson claiming three further victories at Donington, Croft and Oulton Park, with Kox winning his only victory in the BTCC at Round 16 in the first night race at Snetterton.

Thompson ended fourth in the Driver's Championship with 174 Points and three victories, and Kox finished seventh with 113 Points and one victory. West Surrey Racing finished second in the Manufacturers' Championship [as Honda] with 296 points: Pipping Volvo by one point, but a long way off Nissan which cruised away with 464 points.

In the Year 2000, the last to be run under the

After a brief hiatus WSR returned to the BTCC late in the 2001 season running the works

For the 2012 season, eBay Motors rejoined the team as title sponsors. The cars were fitted with NGTC spec turbocharged engines and were by driven by Collard and Foster who were also joined by Tom Onslow-Cole, who had driven for the team in 2007.^[5] The team enjoyed a competitive season, eventually finishing as runners-up in the Teams' Championship. Collard won the opening race at Brands Hatch, followed by two more wins at Knockhill later in the year, taking him to fifth place in the final drivers' standings.

For 2013, WSR once again retained Collard and Foster in their line-up. The 2009 champion Colin Turkington managed to secure a comeback for the team, replacing Onslow-Cole.^[6] The team also replaced the BMW 320i with the BMW 125i M Sport. Turkington fought until the final meeting at Brands Hatch before ultimately finishing in fifth place.

For

Andy Priaulx and Sam Tordoff joined WSR for the 2015 BTCC season. The team secured their first ever 1–2–3 finish at Croft Circuit in Round 13.^[7]

Jack Goff joined WSR for the 2016 BTCC season, along with teammates Rob Collard and Sam Tordoff. Goff drove under the Team IHG Rewards Club banner while Collard and Tordoff raced as Team JCT600 with GardX. A successful season brought the Teams' Championship for Team JCT600 with GardX and the Manufacturers'/Constructors' title for WSR while Tordoff was second in the Drivers' points table.

Knockhill round of the 2017 British Touring Car Championship

.

For 2017, WSR became the manufacturer entrant on behalf of BMW. Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan joined the team to partner Rob Collard. Turkington and Collard combined to help BMW become Manufacturers' Champion and to make Team BMW the Teams' title winner. Turkington was second in the Drivers' Championship and Collard - who had to miss the final five races following a high-speed accident at Silverstone not of his own making - finished fifth. Three wins for Jordan brought him to eighth in the Drivers' table for BMW Pirtek Racing.

For the 2018 Championship the team retained the trio of Turkington, Collard and Jordan for a second year. Turkington would go on to win round 11 at Oulton Park on the way to his third BTCC Drivers Championship win with Jordan and Collard also picking up a win each on their way to 5th and 19th in the championship respectively. Rob Collard was replaced by his son, Ricky Collard, after round 18 at Snetterton Circuit. Ricky Collard would go on to finish in 25th place in the drivers standings and 13th in the Jack Sears trophy standings. The team would win both the constructors and the teams championships for the second season in a row.

For 2019 the team switched to fielding 3 BMW 330i M sports^[8] while retaining Turkington and Jordan and adding Tom Oliphant^[9] to replace Collard. Turkington would win 5 times on his way to his 2nd Drivers Championship in a row and 4th of his career, while Andrew Jordan would win 6 times on his way to 2nd in the drivers standings, 2 points of Turkington's total of 320. Oliphant would finish 11th in the standings at the end of the year achieving a career high of 3rd in race 1 at Donington Park. The Team finished 1st in the Constructors Championship and Team BMW finished 2nd in the teams championship with BMW Pirtek Racing finishing 6th.

Another championship double followed in 2020 with Teams' and Manufacturers' titles claimed by Turkington and Oliphant in a COVID-affected season. Two more Manufacturers' titles arrived over the next two seasons - the 2022 crown a record-breaking eighth in a row for BMW. The BMW 330i M Sport also became the 330e M Sport during this phase as hybrid power units were adopted by the series.

A1 Grand Prix

WSR were selected by

2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season WSR remained in A1GP running A1 Team USA^[10] and the new Singapore team.^[11]

A1 Grand Prix Results[12]
Year	Car	Team	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	T.C.
2005–06	Zytek	A1 Team New Zealand	0	0	0	77	4th
2006–07	Zytek	A1 Team USA	0	0	0	42	9th
		A1 Team Singapore	0	0	0	3	20th
2007–08	Zytek	A1 Team USA	1	0	0	56	12th

• T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

Formula 3000

West Surrey Racing competed in

1986, running a single car for Maurício Gugelmin. Although performances improved throughout the year, results were unspectacular and the team returned to Formula 3 for 1987.^[13]

References

1. ^ "SuperTouring Facts | SuperTouringCars". www.supertourismo.com. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012.
2. ^ http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/vxr/flash/index_main.html News item posted 10-01-2008
3. ^ Aviva Press Release: Aviva unveils entry into World Touring Car Championship
4. ^ Team RAC Announce Jelley As Second Driver Archived 4 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 9 March 2008
5. ^ Hudson, Neil (15 February 2012). "Tom Onslow-Cole joins three car West Surrey Racing team". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 18 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
6. ^ Veltman, Rob (18 January 2013). "Colin Turkington back in BTCC with eBay Motors". TouringCarTimes. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
7. ^ "Bennetts delighted with first ever WSR 1-2-3". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
8. ^ "BTCC reveals 30 car entry for 2019 campaign". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
9. ^ "Tom Oliphant joins West Surrey Racing". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
10. ^ Team USA and WSR announce partnership crash.net Archived 6 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
11. ^ Murchison's Singapore pledge Channelnewsasia.com Archived 10 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
12. ^ A1GP complete Archived 26 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine resultsresults.a1gp.com
13. ^ "West Surrey Racing". Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2008.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Surrey Racing.

• Official website
• Team Profile at btccaction.co.uk Archived 27 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
• WSR Supporters Forum Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine