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.