The BTCC veteran switching codes at 51

A veteran of 489 race starts in the British Touring Car Championship, Rob Collard scarcely fits the normal definition of 'rookie'. But when the British GT season eventually gets underway, 51-year-old Collard will be on the grid for the first time - following in the footsteps of sons Ricky and Jordan, both of whom have previously raced in the GT4 class in BMW and McLaren machinery respectively.

In signing to race a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for Barwell Motorsport - which delivered the title for Marco Attard in 2014 and has come close on countless occasions since - Collard has one of the best operations on the grid behind him and, in team boss Mark Lemmer, someone who knows exactly what it's like to make the switch from touring cars to GT racing.

"While we absolutely loved our time in touring cars, it's nice to move into something new, and I think Rob is exactly in that position now," says Lemmer, who sold Collard the ex-Aaron Slight Vauxhall Astra Coupe in which Collard won the BTCC Independents title in 2003, and raced against him as long ago as 2000 in the BTCC Production class.

"He's certainly got a real appetite for it."

Collard switched from Formula Ford - where he raced against Jenson Button and Dan Wheldon - to tin-tops in 1999, winning on his debut in the BTCC-supporting Vauxhall Vectra SRi V6 Challenge. He went on to finish third in the points - emulating Lemmer's result of 1997 - prior to beginning his BTCC career.

But, after two decades in saloon cars - his only previous sportscar experience coming in a partial Porsche Carrera Cup GB campaign in 2007 - the move into GTs will be an entirely different proposition for Collard.

He only managed three days of testing at Paul Ricard and the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit before the coronavirus pandemic placed a hold on all motorsport activity, so he's still near the start of his learning curve.

"You can never tell how someone will transition," says Lemmer. "But I've been really impressed with Rob's approach. He's extremely focused but he's also got a very measured approach which leads to much faster development.

"Rob has earned his FIA Bronze status by being around so long, and it does get harder - physically and mentally - when you're fifty-something" Mark Lemmer

"It's a very different car to drive. A mid-engined GT [such as the Huracan] is a very different proposition to a touring car - aero-wise, tyre grip and degradation-wise, managing the weight, power, ABS, everything about it - so it takes time.

"The other thing that's not always considered is drivers have to get used to sharing their testing time with another driver, when they've been used to having the car to themselves for the whole day."

Lemmer says this was one of the problems facing the previous high-profile driver to make the switch from the BTCC to the GT3 class - Sam Tordoff, who joined Barwell in 2017 (pictured below at Silverstone) after narrowly failing to beat Gordon Shedden to the 2016 BTCC title.

Paired with amateur racer Liam Griffin, Tordoff had to play the role of diligent Pro, allowing Griffin time in the car to build his confidence, at the same time as learning the car and trying to close the gap to the team's lead driver, Phil Keen. Tordoff and Griffin finished second four times that season and ended up fifth in the points, but were never in the title hunt, and Tordoff returned to the BTCC for 2018.

But Collard won't have quite the same compromises with Sandy Mitchell as his co-driver. The 20-year-old Scot, who did much of the development work on the McLaren 570S GT4, has raced with Barwell in Europe in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup over the past two years and won the Silver class at the Spa 24 Hours last year in the Huracan.

With Mitchell expected to stack up well against the Pros, Collard will have a slightly different role than Tordoff had in going up against the amateurs and young Silver-graded drivers. Due to his age, Collard qualifies as an FIA Bronze, but series organiser SRO deemed that his experience in top-flight racing warranted he be upgraded to Silver, with the consequent all-Silver weight penalty.

"Rob has earned his FIA Bronze status by being around so long, and it does get harder - physically and mentally - when you're fiftysomething," Lemmer says.

"Rob's job isn't to match Keeny or Sandy; his job is to get to a different level of performance, but Rob is a racer at heart so he is always comparing himself against them. But nevertheless, those guys are running as a Silver pairing and to be fair, those goals should be achievable."

There are some very strong Am drivers Collard will have to face, not least reigning champion Graham Davidson, Blancpain Pro-Am title winner Ahmad Al Harthy and Barwell team-mate Adam Balon, plus fellow Silvers who have more experience in GT racing. But Collard's famous racecraft is something that can't be unlearned and will be a real asset in navigating GT4 traffic.

"Rob is one of the best overtakers in the business - I think that's going to bring some excitement to the championship," offers Lemmer. "He certainly won't have lost that - it's definitely going to be a real positive. It's not easy overtaking in GTs, but people like Keeny and Dennis Lind have proved that you can do it."

Collard is coming into British GT on the back of his first winless season since 2013. But, when the campaign does get under way, don't be surprised if that barren streak comes to an end this year.