The new British Touring Car Championship season starts at Brands Hatch this weekend – and it marks an important year for Kent’s Team HARD Racing. Dan Wright visited the squad’s Strood workshop.

Tony Gilham’s phone just doesn’t stop ringing.

If he isn’t taking calls about his three-pronged attack in the BTCC, the Team HARD boss is looking after efforts in British GT and several other series.

He only started racing in 2005 but now oversees about 60 staff, with dozens of cars spread across two bases in Rochester and the Ballard Business Park in Strood.

“This is our biggest year by miles,” Gilham, a former cage fighter, says.

“We tell other people what we are doing and they are either annoyed because we are changing the rules or, as it is so much work, they could just never be asked to do it.

“We are a small, family team and we will always maintain those strong values.”

The squad will run a trio of Volkswagen CCs in this year’s BTCC after replacing their aging Toyota Avensis models over the winter.

The cars – which will be fitted with the new suspension kit and 2017 Swindon engines – were first built by Team HARD for the 2013 season.

They will now be piloted by former single-seater racer Michael Epps, Ginetta talent Will Burns and Goudhurst’s Jake Hill, who starred in the latter part of 2016.

“Last year, we had the oldest car on the grid, but we managed top-six finishes with Jake,” Dartford-born Gilham, who stopped racing full-time in 2010, says.

“We were on the back foot with the old kit on the Toyotas, but we have a lot of experienced staff and they did a really good job to get up as far up the grid as possible.

"I do not think there is anyone to fear out there..." - Tony Gilham

“Now, having been involved with the VWs since their introduction in the championship, we know what they are capable of and Aron Taylor-Smith won a race in one at Rockingham last year.

“They have changed a bit over the years since we had them, but the boys who are working on the cars now built them originally and we feel we have a strong package.”

Former Toyota MR2 racer Gilham – who claimed the Volkswagen Racing Cup title in 2007 before switching to Porsches and later the BTCC – now wants to win trophies with his team’s touring car operation.

He has high hopes for 23-year-old Hill, who will be the only Kent-based driver on the 2017 grid and scored a career-high fifth-place finish at Silverstone last year.

“We have three young and up-and-coming drivers this year and we would like to see some silverware at some point this season,” Gilham, 37, says.

“There are no real weak links in the championship and it is a very strong grid this year, but we believe we will give them a fighting chance.

“I do not think there is anyone to fear out there – everyone is there to be beaten.”

Gilham first started his team in 2012, driving an ex-Gordon Shedden Honda Civic in the BTCC after making his series debut with the Triple Eight Racing squad a year earlier.

He soon expanded into other championships, preparing numerous Volkswagen Racing Cup cars before adding a sportscar programme with Ginetta G55s last year, winning the British GT Championship’s GT4 teams’ crown.

"We are looking forward to a big year..." - Tony Gilham

His squad now offers trackday experiences alongside its racing commitments, with numerous drivers competing under the Team HARD Racing banner across six different championships.

“We always like to give people a chance,” Gilham, a father-of-three, says.

“As a team we like to help drivers where we can and we have some very supportive sponsors who we work alongside.

“We have got all sorts going on and consider ourselves to be a complete package – we are looking forward to a big year.”

The first three rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will be held at Brands Hatch on Sunday. Tickets cost £34 on the gate, with under-13s going free. Visit www.brandshatch.co.uk for details.