In a move that has been rumoured for several weeks, Excelr8 have announced that 11-time-BTCC winner Adam Morgan will join Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton at the team for next season.

The squad have confirmed that Morgan, who is returning to the front-wheel-drive fold after four seasons of being driven from the rear, will make his debut in a shakedown run in the lead up to the two official BTCC test days at the beginning of April.

In the official release from Excelr8 Morgan stated: ““I’ve always felt that before I finished my time in the BTCC, I wanted to get back into a front-wheel drive car, as most of my success in the series came when I was in front-wheel drive with the Mercedes. to be able to do that with Team VERTU and the Hyundai is hugely exciting for me as a driver because I’m joining a championship winning team that has arguably the best front-wheel drive car on the grid, and have two fantastic team-mates alongside me in Tom and Tom.”

After winning races with three different drivers in 2024 the team are looking to build on that run of form by adding Morgan to the lineup. After spending most of his career at the family run Ciceley Motorsport outfit, Morgan switched – with two ex-Ciceley BMWs – to West Surrey Racing for 2023 and 24. Across the two seasons the veteran Tin Top racer only managed to find the podium on five occasions- failing to add to his 11 wins. At the Brands Hatch finale this year Morgan told Touring Car Magazine that he was still looking at remaining with WSR, but the problem was that “Teams are asking for bigger budgets, while drivers’ budgets are shrinking.”

Morgan also stated in the Excelr8 release: “All of the ingredients are there for me to be able to come in and be competitive from the start. It’s not a case of going into a new team that is working to develop a package, as everyone can see how strong both the team and the car are. The main thing for me in 2025 is that I want to go out there to fight for race wins and battle at the front. I am not here to make up the numbers, but at the same time I also want to have fun and enjoy my racing, and I see no reason why that won’t be the case.”

Excelr8 have recently confirmed that Restart Racing will run a pair i30s with support from the team in 2025 (see Restart Racing interview with Pete Jones here,) and are looking to build on the form that the squad displayed with Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton last season. Ingram was in the fight for the title up until the final race of the season while Chilton regained some form that had been missing for three seasons before he put together a first top 10 campaign since 2020. Ronan Pearson also took a win early in the season before departing after seven rounds.

Team owner Justina Williams added: “It goes without saying that we are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome Adam into the Team VERTU line-up for the 2025 season. This is a deal that I’m sure will catch some people by surprise, but when we saw the opportunity was there to bring him into our line-up, it was one we had to take. Adam’s record through the years is very impressive and putting him alongside Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton means we have three drivers in place who we know are capable of winning races and fighting right at the front of the grid in what promises to be another hugely competitive season. We’re certainly in a very strong position and with talks ongoing for the final seat, we are ready to come out fighting in 2025 to reclaim that title!”

The team are still to confirm their fourth driver for 2025.