Howell in Thruxton return with BTC

BTC team test driver Howell, who has three BTCC wins to his name, is racing in the series for the first time since the Oulton Park round last summer

Howell, 27, told autosport.com: "It all came about quite late. I was meant to be racing in VdeV at Anglesey this weekend, so it was a bit of a surprise.

"The good thing is that now the team have changed from Lexus to SEAT, I actually know the car and raced it last year at Thruxton with Motorbase, so hopefully I should be able to use a bit of my experience to get the car going even better than at Donington."

Howell was originally meant to be replacing Oliver's team-mate Chris Stockton at Thruxton, but lost that opportunity when Stockton, delighted with the team's switch from Lexus to SEAT, decided to cancel a business commitment in order to race.

Oliver, a former European Truck Racing Champion, said that time constraints were influential in his decision to skip Thruxton.

He told autosport.com: "We were racing at Barcelona last weekend and there's Misano next weekend, so we need time to prepare the truck back here in England and then get out to Italy early.