Team VERTU’s Osamu Kawashima has highlighted his pride in being able to make his British Touring Car Championship debut at Silverstone.
The 57-year-old Japanese driver will be stepping into the Hyundai left behind by Ricky Collard, with budget problems cutting his career-best P4-running campaign short.
The move means that Silverstone will see the BTCC’s first Japanese driver since Kunimitsu Takahashi in 1985, who drove a Mitsubishi Starion at the same circuit while the series still raced under its British Saloon Car Championship name.
Kawashima is a bit of an unknown quantity, but does have experience racing in England.
He raced in the Ginetta GT5 series in 2014, before a strong 2015 season saw him claim five wins as he finished runner-up in Ginetta GT4’s amateur class.
His performances rewarded him with an afternoon testing a Speedworks Toyota Avensis in 2016, but he has not raced in this country since.
“I’m hugely excited to have the opportunity to become the first Japanese driver to race in the BTCC in the modern era and would like to express my gratitude to everyone at EXCELR8 for making it possible and for supporting me during testing,” Kawashima gleefully commented.
“When I previously raced in the UK in Ginettas, I set myself the goal of one day competing in the BTCC. It’s taken longer than I hoped, but everything has fallen into place and my dream is now finally coming true.
“I’m looking forward to challenging myself against some incredibly fast and talented drivers on the grid, and my goal is to try and achieve some good results and to hone my own driving skills. As a racing driver you always want to win, but realistically speaking, if was able to score a point it would represent an outstanding achievement for me.”
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