BTCC Driver Profiles - Tom ChiltonBorn: 15 March 1985Lives: Reigate, Surrey Website: http://www.tomchilton.com 2007 entry: Car #7 VX Racing, Vauxhall Vectra (S2000) The youngest ever BTCC race winner, Tom Chilton cut his teeth in T-Cars and has gone on to impress with his professional approach to racing. He's amongst the fittest of all the drivers, working hard in the gym, on runs and on bike rides. Despite being a salaried member of the Arena team he took a long time to shake off the tag of a pay-driver. However, a mature and confident perfomance in 2005 earned him respect and attracted the offer of a works drive from VX Racing. Career highlights: 2007 Retained by VX Racing as the team switch to a S2000-spec Vauxhall Vectra 2006 Announced as a works driver with VX Racing alongside Giovanardi and Smith. Qualified on pole for the opening round at Brands Hatch and kept Thompson at bay for much of the race before finally surrendering and finishing second. Along with his team mates he struggled to make the most of the tyres on his Astra and dropped to seventh in race two, but benefited from the randomly-reversed grid rule to start from pole again in the final race of the day, in which he finished 4th on track (although he moved up a place following the exclusion of Collard). Finished the year in 7th with 139 points. 2005 Planned assault on the DTM with a Zytec engineered MG came to nought when the car manufacturer folded, so Tom joined the BTCC at Thruxton with last year's Civic Type R. Pole position but picked up a puncture in the first race while leading, then earned points on his licence with an opportunistic overtaking move in race three. Took a wet-weather win in the third race at Oulton Park and was back on the podium at Croft. Excelled himself at Snetterton with a pole position and wins in the first and second races, and was strong in the wet at Knockhill. He won the first race at Silverstone, then survived a 130mph nudge from Jason Plato in the second race. He sat out the final round to concentrate on sportscar racing, which he had been trying to fit in between his BTCC duties. His season included a win at the Nurburgring, despite starting from the back of the grid. His BTCC campaign ended with 5th place and 175 points. 2004 BTCC with Arena Motorsport running a new Civic with reduced backing from Honda. Starts the season as their only driver, with de facto responsibility for all the testing and setup work. Realised his ambition of becoming the youngest winner of a BTCC race with a mature drive at Silverstone. He appeared on the podium again at Knockhill and Snetterton. At Donington he added another win to his collection to end the season 9th with 116 points. 2003 BTCC with Honda Racing, Civic Type-R. 9th with 70 points, showed promising pace but failed in his aim of winning races. 2002 BTCC Independents' Cup - Barwell Motorsport, Vauxhall Astra Coupe - 5th 2001 BRSCC Winter Saloon Car Championship - Class C Champion; BRSCC Winter GT Championship 2000 BRSCC T-Cars Championship - 3rd 1999 Competed in six T-Car races as exhibition events |
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