Advanced drivers ready to lead the pack as touring car championship roars into life for 2019

With the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) roaring back into life this weekend (6/7 April), there will be no less than two IAM RoadSmart advanced drivers on the Brands Hatch grid as part of the overall weekend package.

Bobby Thompson, 22, will be racing in a Volkswagen Passat in the British Touring Car Championship itself, while Max Coates, 25, will be a part of the Renault UK Clio Cup – which supports the BTCC around the country this year.

Bobby and Max took part in #FormulaDriveSmart, a joint venture between the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) and IAM RoadSmart, the UK’s biggest independent road safety charity last December.

Both will be racing with front-running outfit Team HARD, based in Rochester.

#FormulaDriveSmart took 15 of the most talented young racing drivers in the country, who were all part of the BRDC’s Rising Stars and SuperStars programmes, and put them through IAM RoadSmart’s advanced driving course in a specially adapted two-day schedule to full test standards.

The high-profile event was backed by BRDC President and IAM RoadSmart mature driver ambassador, race and rally legend Paddy Hopkirk MBE.

Both Bobby and Max achieved the highest rating for their performance in the advanced course – a F1RST.

Now Max has agreed to run the IAM RoadSmart logo on his Team HARD Clio all season, donating space to the charity on each door.

IAM RoadSmart has made a video starring Max, where he talks of the benefits of advanced driving in helping him to stay focussed on the task at hand and the importance of planning and observation.

You will find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80IuSUx3bos

Mike Quinton, IAM RoadSmart Chief Executive Officer, said: “Having the IAM RoadSmart logo on Max’s car is very valuable to us; many thanks to Max for doing this.

“For young male drivers, who are the biggest at-risk group of drivers on the roads today for fatal and serious injuries, seeing that Max has taken and achieved the highest level of advanced driving will hopefully prompt them into following his and Bobby’s lead – and seeing being an advanced driver is a fun and valuable activity, and could save a life one day.”

The British Touring Car series of races will be shown on ITV4 in the UK this weekend.

ENDS

Further information from:

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IAM RoadSmart has a mission to make better drivers and riders in order to improve road safety, inspire confidence and make driving and riding enjoyable. It does this through a range of courses for all road users, from online assessments through to the advanced driving and riding tests. IAM RoadSmart is the trading name of all businesses operated by the UK’s largest road safety charity, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and was formed in April 2016 combining the IAM, IAM Drive & Survive, PDS and IAM Driver Retraining Academy. The organisation has 92,000 members and campaigns on road safety on their behalf. At any one time there are over 7,000 drivers and riders actively engaged with IAM RoadSmart’s courses, from members of the public to company drivers, while our Driver Retraining Academy has helped 2,500 drivers to shorten their bans through education and support programmes.

To find out more about IAM RoadSmart commercial products and services visit the new website www.iamroadsmart.com/business                                                     

To find out more about IAM RoadSmart’s Driver Retraining Academy visit www.iamdra.org.uk                                               

To find out the name of your own local IAM RoadSmart group please visit: https://www.iamroadsmart.com/local-groups                             

ENDS ALL