Matt Hamilton has made his name in the single-seater, open wheeled series’ but now he has made the step into BTCC. At only 19 he has a great future ahead of him and he has already had a ‘taster’ of the BTCC last season when he competed in the final two rounds. We caught up with Matt and talked to him about his career and what he thought of the BTCC.

Q: So far throughout your career you’ve raced in the open-wheeled series’ such as Formula BMW, Formula Palmer Audi as-well as Formula Ford and achieved some great success. What made you make the step into the BTCC and not the British F3?

At the end of 2008, my family and I sat down and had a good look at what the future held. Bear in mind also, that as a family of modest financial means, we relied heavily on outside financial support, and in the economic climate of twelve months ago, finding backing was very difficult. The problem with single seaters, is that year on year it gets more and more expensive to race. To find a competitive F3 seat is over £500k, and F3 is not where the need to find funding stops. I looked seriously at F2, but just could not raise the backing.

I went into 2009 with no race plans, but I had been speaking to Trevor Humphrey at TH Motorsport for a while. I did one European GT4 race at the start of the year, but to be honest, it didn’t really excite me. We therefore decided that the BTCC was the plan. The aim is to try and establish myself in the series at a time when the BTCC is going through a period of change. I have great faith in my abilities, so that hopefully when the manufacturers come back to the series, which they undoubtedly will, there will be a great opportunity to earn a living doing what I love. Oh, and I must say, I love the BTCC. the cut and thrust of the racing is unsurpassed anywhere, and racing is what I love, and what I’m good at.

Q: You entered the BTCC at the back end of last season. Will you and the team be entering in 2010?

That is the plan, but at this moment in time, I have not raised the full budget. However, it’s early days as yet, and I think the chances of me peddling the Civic in the BTCC in 2010 are pretty favourable. One thing that is certain is that the amount of interest generated among potential sponsors is far greater for the BTCC than it ever was in single seaters.

Q: In the two rounds that you competed in last season you found it tough and only finishing two of the races. Do you feel the team will make enough improvements to make the car more competitive for next season?

You have to understand that the two meetings in which I competed were really just a toe in the water excersise, and for me to get some Touring Car mileage under my belt. If you look at the scenario, I think we all did pretty well. Firstly, the car had not run for two years, the team had no experience of the civic, I had no tin top experience to speak of, and I had no front wheel drive experience at all. We did have a few technical problems, but that wasn’t unexpected. I also have an awful lot to learn.

However, I tend to look at the positives. In the third race at Rockingham, I was on for a points finish, having just passed Martin Johnson for tenth place. Unfortunately, Anthony Reid had other ideas, and clattered into the side of my car with two laps to go. The car was almost undriveable, but I was determined to bring it home, despite being a lap down, and got my first BTCC finish.

At Brands, despite mechanical issues in the practise sessions, I qualified only a tenth of a second off of Anthony Ried in a works BMW. The races were incident and I got involved in accidents in the first two races, and hadn’t even completed one lap which was very frustrating. The car was badly damaged after race two, but the boys at TH performed miracles to get me out for race three. The car was repaired just in time for the start of the race, but it looked more like Arena Essex than BTCC.

My race went largely unnoticed, because of the Championship battle up front, but after passing Martin Johnson, I closed down a gap of seven seconds to catch the battling pack at the end. At one stage, I was the second fastest car on circuit!! When I caught the pack, Ithen had a great battle with Jonny Herbert (despite the fact he was a lap behind me), and we swapped places twice on the final tour. I was thrilled when he came up to me after the race, shook my hand, and said what a great battle it was.

Q: You’re only 19. What was it like to mix it with the likes of Plato, Giovanardi and Turkington who are all multiple winners and some could say legends in BTCC? You wasn’t phased by it at all was you?

I wasn’t really phased, no. Funnily enough, the first time I really got to see them on track was in Qualifying at Rockingham. My engine blew and dropped it’s oil, meaning that most of the big names went past me backwards as they slid onto the grass!!!! Thats what you call entering the BTCC with a bang!! However, I am full of respect for these guys……..I just hope that I am mixing it with them on circuit for years to come.

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.