AMERICAN driver Robb Holland will make his competitive debut for Handy Motorsport at Snetterton next weekend.
Standing in for team principal Simon Belcher, Holland’s appearance will be first first in the British Touring Car Championship since the penultimate event of the 2014 campaign.
Holland got a first taste of the team’s Toyota Avensis recently, during an officially timed Dunlop tyre test at the East Anglian track, and after getting to grips with the car, he declared himself satisfied with his maiden run.
“Robb gave us some good feedback from the test and we also have my data to work with from the back-to-back test I did with Tom Ingram’s car,” said Belcher.
“We’ve obviously got Robb’s data from last year in his Audi too, so there’s a lot to work with to try and get the best set-up we can for next weekend.”
Belcher, who will focus solely on his team principal role at Snetterton, Knockhill and Rockingham before returning to the driving seat for the final two events of the 2015 season, is looking forward to spending the entire race weekend on the opposite side of the pitwall.
“It’s important for us to keep pushing forward, if I’d stayed in the car for the rest of the season it would have compromised the team budget and hindered our plans for next year”, he said. “
We’re here for the long term in the BTCC and working hard on very exciting new plans for 2016 – we may be in a position to say more about that in the next few weeks.”