Following the announcement that saw Tom Onslow-Cole leave the AmD Milltek Racing.com team prior to the final race of the day at the weekend in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship it was today confirmed that team boss, Shaun Hollamby, would race the VW Golf for the next round of the season.

“We’ve gone with the safe option,” said Shaun speaking to BTCC Crazy. “After Croft there’s an eight week break till the next race at Snetterton and we can have a proper look at it. We didn’t want to make a rushed decision because I don’t want to change driver again. Whoever goes in the car for the next time will be in the car for the duration of the season.”

It won’t be the first time that Shaun has driven the car after he made his debut last season in the Golf on his way to becoming the ‘Fans Favourite Driver’ in 2010.

As team boss, Shaun admits that he’s received a tremendous amount of intrest in the drive which at the start of the season wasn’t there which is a testament to the progress that the team have made. “We’re going to be looking at what’s best for the team in the long term and we’ve taken the decision for myself to drive the car at Croft before we look at a replacement for Tom before Snetterton.

“If I do a good job then maybe it will be me in the car but I’ve had around 45 serious applicants for the drive in the short space of time since the final race last Sunday. They include an ex-A1GP driver as well as drivers which have BTCC experience in the past, some which are race winners.”

The VW Golf has been dramatically improved since Brands Hatch, which was the last time Shaun drove the car, and the team have already scored nine points in the teams championship and 32 points in the independents team championship and currently sit in 8th position.

Hollamby went on to say, “I’m testing tomorrow at Brands Hatch and if the test goes OK then I don’t think theres any reason why I can’t match or even beat the results which Tom achieved so far this season in both qualifying and in the race.

“My aim will still be to score three top ten race finishes in all three races which is something that as a team we are yet to achieve.

“Croft will be my chance to show the team and the sponsors that I can do just a good a job in the car as the big name drivers.

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

We’ve got fantastic sponsors with Milltek and Tesco Momentum 99 and without them we wouldn’t be in this position now.

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.