Autosport Plus

The BTCC veteran switching codes at 51

Rob Collard is following in Sam Tordoff's footsteps in swapping the BTCC for British GT. But will he make it a success, or end up returning with his tail between his legs?

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.

Share Or Save This Story

Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.