Motorsport has helped many injured ex-army service personnel to reintegrate within society, and at Team BRIT (British Injured Racing Troops), it shows just what can be accomplished, no matter what obstacles have been in the way.
After taking a hard-fought tenth place in the A3 class at their début 24-hour endurance race at the inaugural Creventic Touring Car Endurance Series event at Silverstone back in April, the British endurance racing outfit is moving along with a new line-up and a new challenge.
Following the departure of Mark Allen and Martyn Compton in early June, three new rookies have now joined the team in the form of Mike Lewis, Warren McKinlay and Joe Byrne, who will be put to the test out on track in August.
The team has also put up for sale the Slide Sports Race Engineering-prepared Volkswagen Golf Mk6 GTi that they have been using for the last year and a half, which has served them well during their formative steps into the endurance racing scene.
All three drivers have been coached and mentored by precision driver and racer Sam Maher-Loughnan, and have now passed their ARDS test ahead of starting their efforts in the BRSCC Fun Cup championship for the final four races of the year, starting at Silverstone on August 27th.
All three have made impressive progress, even with a steep learning curve, and are up for the challenge of competing in a championship that provides an equal playing field and plenty of action.
It will also help the trio to work together under pressure as a team, working on a united strategy to aim for the best result possible.
“We’re really excited to take on a new batch of rookies,” explained Founder and Team Manager Dave Player, who established the outfit back in 2015, and also runs the charity KartForce.
“Mike, Joe and Warren are extremely focused and determined individuals, which is showing by how fast they are progressing.”
Player also went on to explain that the Fun Cup’s format, which works on a single-day format, will help them to “sharpen their racing skills.”
The team has also been recently featured on Sky Sports F1, who followed the Berkshire outfit to the “Home of British Motor Racing,” with a three-minute video following the race itself, with Team BRIT finding themselves as high as eighth overall and second in class at one point, along with being the fastest car in the wet, as the rain hit hard during the night.
Just after 7am, the garage crew would act quickly to swap the car’s gearbox in just 90 minutes, due to a clutch failure, which meant the drivers had their work cut for them to fight back.