Tom Onslow-Cole has today been confirmed as the new driver of the AmD Milltek Racing with YourRacingCar.com VW Golf for the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Todays announcement comes as a shock as the VW Golf could only manage a 14th place last season but the team have made many upgrades to the car over the off-season including the switch to the NGTC turbocharged TFSI engine.

Onslow-Cole, who was within a shout of the Drivers Championship come finale day last season, spoke about his move to AmD Milltek Racing, “I’m sure everyone’s surprised by my move to AmD Milltek Racing but I feel it’s a solid career choice.”

“I’m not going to lie there have been a few negative comments but generally anyone in the know has been supportive. I don’t like to build things up and then fall short so for now I’m not going to say too much other than don’t write us off.”

Despite not scoring a point Shuan Hollamby took the fans driver of the year award mainly because of his approach to the fans during race weekends and the infamous blog he ran throughout the season showing the developments on the car.

Tom added, “Stepping into Shaun’s shoes and representing YRC is a challenge for sure, he’s quite the character to live up to and from what I’ve seen last year he can really drive. I know people are expecting a lot from our 2011 programme and I’ll be doing everything on and off the track to deliver that.”

Tom will be stepping into a unique team this season as it’s the only team on the grid that you can genuinely be a part of with the YourRacingCar scheme which allows you to become a member and get your photo on the car as-well as other great perks and freebies. You can sign up to the fan funded racing scheme by clicking here and support Onslow-Cole throughout the season.

Hannah James, the founder of YRC commented, “The first day I met Shaun he told me that his aim was to get a decorated young pedaller in the car as soon as possible. He wants to show off all the hard work and dedication the team have put into the new package so it makes sense to put someone a little younger behind the wheel”

Hollamby also said, “A huge amount of preparation and development work has gone into the Golf during the off-season – with a driver of Tom’s technical know-how and natural speed we hope the following we gained in 2010 will become even stronger in 2011.”

You can follow the team on Twitter too by following @tomonslowcole, @AmDEssex and @YourRacingCar.

Photo Credit: AmD Milltek Racing

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.