‘Testing has been a nightmare’ insists Reigate racer Tom Chilton

Confident British Touring Car Championship ace Tom Chilton admitted testing for the 2022 season has been, “an absolute nightmare in terms of things going wrong”. The 37-year-old from Reigate has had a frustrating time in the hybrid Hyundai i30 N with his new team Bristol Street Motors With EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com and conceded it has tempered his excitement ahead of the first meeting at Donington Park on April 23/24. But despite the issues he remains optimistic and is aiming to start the season how he left off last year – at Brands Hatch, with three top-ten finishes – in the opening three rounds in Leicestershire.

Chilton was at Thruxton this week for the launch of the series, involving filming and TV work as well as driving on the second day, prior to a final test at Brands Hatch on Friday (April 18). After that there is nothing to be done but prepare himself for Donington as he continues in the series he has graced for two decades, this year having returned to his favoured front-wheel drive machinery. “I’m sure it will be absolutely fine by Donington,” he said. “We’ve had this week to get rid of all the gremlins.

I’d love to do some more driving next week because I genuinely feel like I’ve not done anywhere near the amount of testing I would normally have done from the start of the year. As much as I’ve gone back into front-wheel drive and know it and love it, I have to re-learn it. “It’s like riding a bike – you can ride it but it’s just learning all the little bits again.” Reflecting on his time in the new car so far he added: “I have had some testing and I’ve had an absolute nightmare in terms of lots of things going wrong.

I’ve not actually done a proper flying lap on new tyres where I’ve not had an issue with the either suspension or engine, so it’s been quite frustrating for me. Because you are always trying to compare yourself to team-mates but I can’t physically do that until I’ve got a car that works.

“The first time I drove the car, two front dampers lost 50% of their compression. The next time I drove it I only got a couple of sessions in and then it started raining and I never went out on new tyres.

Then at Croft last week I had a misfire all day so it was 9km an hour slower at the end of the straight. I think the problem is the ECU [electronic control unit]. “The unit has to run the hybrid kit and they are a bit temperamental, I think because it’s very new.

And as much as all the hardware works, the software has a lot of bugs in it. You pray when you switch it on [engine] one of the bugs hasn’t started. It’s like the original Microsoft where you have to keep rebooting.”

That is far from ideal for Chilton when his team-mates – Jack Butel, Dan Lloyd and Tom Ingram – have cars which are working fine.

“That’s motorsport, it happens,” said a philosophical Chilton, whose team have told him they are able to attract more sponsorship now he is on board. “As a racing driver, you can always drive your best and perform your best but if you genuinely feel like you’ve got loads of bad luck you start to think, ‘is it the car, is it the mechanics?’ “But it will be fine. Let’s look at last year.

It was all new to me [new team, rear-wheel drive], I had to re-learn everything and in the last round I did my best round with three top-10 finishes. “Because I am going back to what I do know [front-wheel drive], as much as I might be a little bit rusty at it, I’d like to think my first race weekend will be three top-10 finishes. So I can start where I left off and then only get better. That’s kind of what I’m setting myself in my mind.”

He added with a smile: “If it’s all singing and dancing, I’ll be getting two or three podiums.”