One Motorsport will launch its challenge for honours in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship this weekend (26-27 April) when the 2025 season gets underway at Donington Park.
Having taken a sabbatical from the UK’s premier motor racing series last year, the two-time Independent Teams’ champions are poised to make their eagerly-anticipated return to the grid with Josh Cook, Stephen Jelley and two Honda Civic Type R challengers.
Despite watching on from the sidelines last season, the team has ensured that no stone has been left unturned during its absence with ongoing development work being carried out across both cars back at its Brackley base over the past 12 months.
The intensive development programme has yielded positive results too with double Independent Drivers’ title winner Cook setting the fastest-ever BTCC lap around Donington Park National during last week’s Season Launch.
Cook’s homecoming to the familiar surroundings of One Motorsport proved to be one of the biggest stories of the off-season and now that he has re-aligned with the team in which he has enjoyed the most success at in his career, he’s fully focused for more triumphant moments.
On the other side of the garage, multiple race-winner Jelley returns to the grid after a season away and he too is relishing the prospect of what can be achieved this year as he gets reacquainted with driving a front-wheel-drive touring car again.
Since the team’s last appearance in the BTCC, a number of changes have been implemented including the removal of hybrid and the additional power surge now coming solely via turbo boost. In addition, the championship has also introduced the use of 100% fully sustainable fuel.
The ‘Quick Six’ qualifying format will continue for a second successive year with Saturday's first qualifying session of the season gets underway at 15:10 and will be streamed live via ITV Sport’s YouTube channel worldwide, whilst all three BTCC contests on Sunday will be available to watch on ITV4 and ITVX in the UK, RACER Network in the USA and Canada and YouTube for all other regions.
Race one is scheduled to begin at 11:50 BST before race two blasts into action at 14:35 BST. The reverse grid finale will then round out proceedings at 17:25 BST.
Josh Cook, One Motorsport #66: “I’m looking forward to getting the season underway. It’s been an incredible job by everyone at One Motorsport to get us to this point and their efforts deserve a huge amount of credit. During pre-season testing we’ve kept our heads down, worked through our run plans and we seem to be in a good place. Of course you don’t know where everyone else stacks up but I’m optimistic that we can be in the mix towards the front of the field. It’s going to be extremely competitive this year, like it always is, so hitting the ground running with three strong finishes is the aim going into Donington Park this weekend."
Stephen Jelley, One Motorsport #12:“It wasn’t that long ago that I was having my seat fit at the team workshop and now suddenly here we are going into the opening round of the new campaign. Pre-season testing has gone predominantly well; it’s been nice to settle into the team, form relationships with everybody and importantly get dialled into the car. Having Josh on the other side of the garage is great as he knows the car really well so while there has been plenty to learn, I’m heading to Donington Park in a good place. If we can bring home three solid finishes and a big haul of points on Sunday I’ll be more than happy. That'll be a solid foundation to build upon going into future rounds."
Steve Dudman, One Motorsport Team Owner: "As the team continues to gather momentum with our Honda challengers heading to Donington Park, credit must go to Paul Hartley for stepping up as Sporting Director this year; the dedication of everyone back at Brackley has been relentless since the start of the year. To put the team and cars in immediate contention at the Season Launch was a proud moment. We all know that Josh and Stephen will give everything they have behind the wheel and the team is targeting to be right at the sharp end - that's how we function. We'll arrive 100% ready to compete, for every single lap, of every race, to the highest of our ability and will be at full throttle, no exceptions."
