History

Starting as title sponsor of the single car team of Chris Stockton’s TEAM BTC Chevrolet in 2014, in 2015 the decision was made to form Power Maxed Racing, in order to focus on promoting the range of vehicle care products produced by Automotive Brands, under the Power Maxed banner.

That year saw two Chevrolet Cruze saloons join the BTCC fray, ably piloted by Dave Newsham & rookie Josh Cook. With a podium finish at Rockingham, and consistent top 10 finishes, it was clear from the off that they were a team to be reckoned with. That was confirmed at the last round at Brands Hatch, when Josh took the win in the prestigious Jack Sears Trophy.

2016 saw the two Chevrolets re-emerge in the hands of former Lamborghini GT driver Hunter Abbott & Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher. The pairing brought the team huge publicity, and finished with several top 10 finishes.

Towards the end of 2016, Team Principal Adam Weaver & Race Director Martin Broadhurst were to succeed where many had failed, and brought Vauxhall back into the BTCC. With factory support, the team set to work building two brand new Astra K shells, and succeeded in having them in full livery ready for Media Day. BTCC Superstar Tom Chilton and rookie Senna Proctor were set to pilot the cars for the 2017 season, and did so with aplomb.

Chilton achieved a podium on his car’s very first competitive outing at Brands Hatch, and the success didn’t stop there, with a large number of top 10 finishes throughout the year. This was topped by a second-place finish at Silverstone, by guest driver, WTCC Champion Rob Huff, who narrowly lost out to multiple champion Matt Neal due to a number of safety car laps, and running on the Option tyre.

The season highlight was Senna Proctor securing his victory in the Jack Sears Trophy, awarded to best rookie in their first year, with 5 rounds to go, guaranteeing his place in the BTCC Hall of Fame.

2018 saw 2015 Jack Sears Champion Josh Cook take to the wheel of the PMR built Astra, alongside 2017 Jack Sears Champion Senna Proctor. The pair started the year off in spectacular style, securing 3 wins over 3 rounds, with Senna’s charge from P28 to victory in the second race at Brands Hatch going down as one of the greatest drives in BTCC history. This gave PMR their first BTCC win, quickly followed by Josh’s pole position and “lights-to-flag” victory at Donington during the second race weekend of the year, followed by another spectacular win at Thruxton just a few weeks later.

Throughout the season the pair achieved top-10 positions in more than 50% of the races, and amassed 9 podiums and 5 fastest laps. An incredible finale saw Josh up against outgoing-champion Ash Sutton, tousling for position around Brands Hatch’s GP circuit, leading most of the race but being edged out at the end to miss the win by just 0.043 of a second.

This meant a joint second in the Team’s Standings for the team; after just four years, that’s a source of immense pride for the team, and has earned them the respect of being one of the top teams in the championship.

For 2019, the team secured two-time-champion and BTCC-legend Jason Plato, the most successful British racing driver of all time. He was paired with former Independents’ Champion, and BTCC-stalwart, Rob Collard. The two successfully campaigned the BTCC Astras throughout the season, and amassed a number of podiums and fastest laps, a pole position and won the season finale at Brands Hatch to rapturous applause.

In 2020, due to the effects of Covid-19, the team decided to take a sabatical from racing, with the aim being for both cars to sit out the year, rolling all branding partnerships across to 2021. After just 2 rounds, it was decided to rejoin the championship, albeit with one car rather than the normal two.

The decision was also taken to give a number of up & coming drivers the opportunity to race the car throughout the shortened season, alongside two highly experienced BTCC racers-Mike Bushell and Rob Austin. Bushell went well out of the box, topping the timings in his first sojourn in the car, with a pace keeping him in the Top 5 all weekend. Rob Austin would do equally well, narrowly missing out on a brace of Top 10 finishes, despite not having driven a race car for 2 years.

The car would be driven for the remaining rounds by Jade Edwards, former Ginetta GT4 Champion Jac Constable, Hollywood stunt drive Jess Hawkins and 2x VLN Champion Brad Philpot, all of whom gained valuable experience and exposure thanks to the programme.

For 2021, the team have retained Double BTCC Champion Jason Plato, who will team up for another driver who has yet to be confirmed. Power Maxed Car Care Racing will also be running multiple cars in a number of other champiosnhips, including TCR and Volkswagen Racing Cup.