Ricky Collard made his BTCC test debut with double series champions WSR today (Friday, November 10) at Silverstone.

The 21-year-old from Eversley, Hampshire, completed 122 laps on the National Circuit at the Home of British Motorsport alongside two-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington, who completed 92 laps.

Ricky, an official BMW Motorsport Junior Driver, is the second member of the Collard family to drive the WSR-run BMW 125i M Sport as his father Rob was part of the Team BMW line-up that won the BTCC Teams’ title in 2017 and helped BMW to secure the Manufacturers’ crown.

Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “We were delighted to give Ricky a run in the BMW today and he performed well for a driver with no experience of a BTCC car. His technical feedback was extremely impressive, his lap times were very competitive and he clearly has a bright future. We’re yet to announce our full driver line-up for our BTCC title defence in 2018, so days like this help us with our evaluation process.”

Ricky Collard said: “I’ve been around the BTCC paddock for a long time through my Dad’s racing and always wanted to drive one, so I’m extremely grateful to have been given the chance to do this by WSR today. The car is quite a bit different to the GT3 and DTM BMWs I’ve driven this year, but the handling is fantastic and I can see why it’s won so many races and championships in the BTCC. It’s been an enjoyable day, but we’ll have to see if it leads to anything.”