Butcher to drive MG TCR car for Olympics-style Motorsport Games

The inaugural running of the Games, styled as a motorsport equivalent of the Olympics, takes place at Vallelunga on November 1-3 and features events for GT cars and Formula 4 as well as the TCR contest, a Drifting Cup, Karting Slalom Cup and a Digital Cup for Esports.

National governing bodies are invited to nominate drivers and driver pairings to represent their countries. Butcher has won three BTCC races with the AmD Tuning team's Honda this season and is currently fifth in the championship.

"The first contact about this came back in August, and it was Rob Huff who helped put us in touch," he told Autosport.

"It looks like a really exciting event and it will be great to go and race at a cool track like Vallelunga.

"Rob has a lot of contacts in China and he has helped broker this for me, so I am grateful to him. It will be very special to represent Britain and I am grateful that Motorsport UK has put me forward to take this opportunity.

"It is the British Touring Car Championship and the success I have had this year which has helped me to open the door to an opportunity like this. It is great to be able to take other chances and spread my wings a little but onto the international platform.

"It looks like it is going to be a really interesting event and there will be a real mixture of cars and drivers on the grid."

Butcher's use of the MG6 TCR is subject to it receiving FIA homologation in time.

It has achieved podiums in TCR China with Zhen Dong Zhang, who will represent China in the event.

Other names on the initial entry for the touring car element of the Games include TCR Europe frontrunners Luca Engstler and Gilles Magnus, representing Germany and Belgium respectively.