BTCC 2018: Ciceley Racing expands with second entry for Tom Oliphant

The 27-year-old, who won the Ginetta GT4 Supercup in 2015, has spent the last two seasons racing Porsches.

He finished fourth overall in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB in 2016 and '17, and also took part in sporadic Porsche Supercup races as well as tackling the Middle East version of the one-make series.

Oliphant will team up with Adam Morgan in the expanded Ciceley Racing team.

Team principal Russell Morgan said he was delighted to have signed Oliphant.

"We have two gifted young drivers pedalling our Mercedes-Benz A-Class' in the BTCC this year," said Morgan.

"As soon as I heard that Tom was available we moved mountains in our quest to sign him; we had to purchase the TOCA TBL licence by November 20, 2017, and that really put the pressure on us to conclude the deal.

"Tom is exactly the type of driver I want in my squad: professional in and out of the car and blisteringly fast.

"He will be eligible for both the Independents Trophy and the Jack Sears Trophy [which will run this season for drivers who have yet to score an outright podium]. I expect him to do well in both.

"Although Tom has no front-wheel drive experience, our cars are very well balanced and we have a comprehensive pre-season test schedule arranged.

"I am confident that Tom will soon get to grips with the car and be on the pace straight away."

2018 BTCC line-up so far

Team BMR Subaru Levorg: Ash Sutton
WSR BMW: Colin Turkington, Rob Collard, Andrew Jordan
Team Dynamics Honda Civic: Matt Neal
Eurotech Racing Honda Civic: Jack Goff, Matt Simpson
Motorbase Performance Ford Focus: Tom Chilton, Mat Jackson
HMS Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta: Rob Austin
BTC Norlin Honda Civic: Chris Smiley
Team Hard Volkswagen CC: Jake Hill, Mike Bushell, Michael Caine, Bobby Thompson
AmD Tuning Audi S3: Ollie Jackson, Sam Smelt
Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra: Josh Cook, Senna Proctor
Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis: Tom Ingram
Ciceley Racing: Adam Morgan, Tom Oliphant