EXCELR8 has today (2 December) confirmed it has entered into a multi-year collaboration with the Restart Racing team that will see two additional Hyundai i30 Fastback N cars join the 2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship as part of a customer programme.
EXCELR8 announced back in August that it was open to discussions about working with an additional team for the new season, with the possibility of providing cars if required to either a new entrant into the series or an existing outfit that was already on the grid.
The announcement led to discussions with parties interested in the team’s highly successful Hyundai, which has become one of the top cars of the current era since being introduced into the series at the start of the 2020 season; scoring a total of 23 wins and 63 podiums, as well as the 2022 championship title in the hands of Tom Ingram.
Founded in 2022 - but with vast experience of running of cars in a variety of championships, including the BTCC - Restart Racing made the switch into the BTCC in 2024.
Chris Smiley would score the team’s best result of the season with a sixth-place finish at Silverstone and finished the campaign third in the Independents’ Trophy with two class victories – and 18 further podiums – from 30 races.
With EXCELR8 continuing to run a four-car programme in the BTCC under the Team VERTU banner, with Ingram and Tom Chilton already confirmed in the driver line-up, the new collaboration with Restart Racing means that no fewer than six Hyundai cars will be part of the grid when the new season kicks off at Donington Park in late April.
Like the EXCELR8 quartet, the two Restart Racing cars will utilise the Hyundai engine developed alongside Swindon Powertrain, with further details on the team’s driver line-up to be revealed in due course.
Justina Williams, EXCELR8 Team Owner, said: “When we went public with the announcement that we were open to providing cars to a customer, we expected there to be interest given the success we have enjoyed with the Hyundai, and are delighted to have agreed a deal that will see us join forces with Restart Racing as a customer team for 2025 and beyond.
“Although this will be the first time we have provided BTCC machinery to another team, we are no strangers to building cars for customers in the MINI CHALLENGE and this is another step in the continued growth of EXCELR8 as we look to strengthen our position as one of the premier teams in British motorsport.
“The fact that Restart Racing has chosen the Hyundai as their weapon of choice is an indication of how far we have come in a relatively short period of time, and we look forward to working with them to make a success of this new collaboration over the coming seasons.”
Pete Jones, Restart Racing Managing Director, said: “I have been involved with the BTCC for a number of seasons, including a highly successful period alongside EXCELR8 supporting Tom Ingram’s 2022 title win, so when I heard that they were open to supplying cars to another team, it obviously caught my attention.
“The Cupra served us well this year as we embarked on our first season in the BTCC, but we are an ambitious team that has a desire to establish ourselves on the grid and to progress up the order - in much the same was as EXCELR8 themselves have done.
“The Hyundai is clearly an extremely strong package, and one that we know will allow us to move closer towards the targets we have set ourselves as a team. We are delighted to enter into this new relationship with EXCELR8, and can’t wait to take delivery of the cars and kickstart our preparations for 2025.”
