Sport   Other Sports   Touring Cars

Scottish youngster to make BTCC history at Knockhill

By MJP Media | 20 August 2013

16-year-old Aiden Moffat will make history this weekend as he becomes the youngest ever driver in the British Touring Car Championship!

Aiden Moffat will become the youngest ever driver in the BTCC

At the tender age of just 16, Aiden Moffat from Dalkeith, just down the road from Knockhill, is set to become the youngest ever driver in the 56-year history of the MSA British Touring Car Championship after his entry was confirmed for the remainder of the 2013 season. The young star will begin his BTCC career at this weekend's Knockhill round, driving a Finesse Motorsport-run S2000 Chevrolet Cruze - the car previously piloted to a Jack Sears Trophy win by Joe Girling earlier in the 2013 campaign.

Finesse Motorsport has owned the car throughout 2013 but initially loaned the machine out to the M247 Racing squad with very mixed success. With Girling out of the series for various reasons, Finesse have decided that it was the perfect opportunity for both Moffat and the team to graduate to the BTCC with a promising young driver. The squad, which runs cars on the TOCA bill in the Renault Clio Cup UK, will shakedown the Cruze at Knockhill later this week with former BTCC racer and Clio Cup champion Jonny Adam on driving duty for that exercise.

At 16 years of age, Aiden is no stranger to the silverware!

Moffat started his motor sport journey in karting at the age of 12. He dovetailed his successful three years of karting with a venture into junior banger racing in 2010 and after winning the Scottish championship a year-later, moved into the Motorsport News Ford Fiesta Junior Championship for 2012. There he got his first taste of real racing circuits like Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington Park and he took his maiden car-racing win in the final race of the season. The talented youngster also competes in the Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup as well as the Scottish Ford Fiesta Championship in 2013 and will continue to do so alongside his BTCC commitments for the rest of the campaign. He's had a recent pole position in the Cooper Cup and has won the last four races in the Fiesta ST Cup.

Incredibly, Moffat will now make his debut in Britain's premier motor sport series aged just 16 years, ten months and 28 days to become the youngest ever BTCC driver - a record previously held by 12-time race winner Tom Chilton. Even more incredibly, last week saw him getting his exam results at school where he passed his first set of highers with more to be taken this year before university where he hopes to study engineering. Aiden said: "I am just so excited to be on the big stage racing in front of thousands of fans at the circuits and millions more watching on TV. I know the Knockhill circuit inside and out so that should help with my debut, but I am simply going to enjoy it. I've always dreamed about doing the BTCC and it's always been in the plan, but it has come around sooner than we thought. To be told I am the youngest ever driver in the BTCC just adds to the excitement to be honest, so I really can't wait to get out there. My race craft has really progressed and I've been up against some really tough racers in Scotland. I won't be phased by the challenge, but I'll certainly be taking it all in and looking to learn from the experience."

Neil Giddings, Team Manager at Finesse Motorsport, said: "We've been excited by the opportunity to run in the BTCC and it has been the plan since we purchased the car early in the year. We feel that we're well geared up for it as a team now and it's also great for our Clio Cup drivers to see a career progression with the squad. Time will tell how Aiden gets on but we haven't put any pressure on him and he knows Knockhill well, so we're all looking forward to the challenge."

In an exclusive interview with his Dad he explained the difficulties for Aiden and the family in trying to take full advantage of the opportunities and yet keep their feet firmly on the ground. "Last year he had approval for a few days off school to pursue his racing" said Rob, "but we made sure that he knew that he had to put extra effort into his studies to make up for this and he hasn't let us down. We are immensely proud of him, as all parents are!" You can get your first view of Aiden on Saturday at Knockhill in free practice and qualifying and then the main racing action on Sunday. This is history in the making and we will be there to cover it.

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media