The return of Nick Halstead to the BTCC with Power Maxed Racing is almost perfectly timed with the series taking a more progressive approach towards digital content, streaming and positioning itself to bring in a new generation of Tin Top Racing fans.
Halstead, who raced with Excelr8 for the past two campaigns, has been the biggest advocate on the BTCC grid when it comes to turning the series round and bringing it into the post-Liberty/F1/DTS motorsport media eco-system, and he will once again be actively engaging with fans, partially with dreamdrive.team which is his latest project for fan engagement.
After successfully bringing ‘Crazy Carts’ to the BTCC for Saturday afternoons in a programme that increased fan engagement, and partnership activation, he will once again lead the way for a series that has recently opened its doors to a new, wider audience through YouTube streaming.
The deal with Power Maxed, which was ratified by TOCA with the agreement of the other teams on the BTCC grid, brings the field up to 25 cars, and will be especially welcome for the squad who earlier this year lost their main sponsor.
After coming back from the brink by signing a deal with Motor Parts Direct and retaining Mikey Doble for a third season, the team began the season with Doble claiming fifth in the opening race of the year. The squad has also added a multi-car TCR UK entry to their roster. The addition of Halstead in a second BTCC Vauxhall Astra car has helped turnaround the squad in a fashion that outperforms the restoration of Lazarus.
After entering the series in 2023 full-time (following a one-off appearance in 2021) Halstead scored a seventh placed finish at the first meeting of the year, and has scored points on occasion since. The British GT race winner admits that overall glory is not his aim or expectation. “I’m not here claiming to be the fastest driver on the grid – I’m here to have fun and bring fans closer to the sport they love” he said.
Despite not running at the front of the grid, Halstead has become a fan favourite thanks to his accessibility and it is expected that for the remainder of the season that he will be aiming to further raise the profile of the BTCC – which has for the most part concentrated on traditional media for coverage over the last few years.
Touring Car Magazine 