Total Control Racing has announced the signing this morning, Monday, 14th December, of car racing rookie Harry Foster to its Ginetta Junior Championship line-up for next season, filling the third seat of the team’s planned four-car entry.
Marking a welcome return for the Foster name back to the British Touring Car Championship package – Harry’s father Nick having competed in the BTCC between 2011 and 2014, with a further one-off appearance this year at Rockingham with West Surrey Racing – the 14-year-old’s arrival in Ginetta Junior comes off the back of a seven-year tenure in karting.
Starting out at the tender age of seven, Foster Jnr has mainly competed at club level since that time and claimed his first title, the IAME Cadet Karting Championship at Hampshire’s Forest Edge Kart Club, in 2013.
The youngster, who resides in Odiham in Hampshire and attends Shiplake College in Henley-on-Thames, got his first experience of cars in the Ginetta Junior Scholarship in October and produced an impressive showing to progress to the final day of the assessment procedure.
Thrilled to welcome Foster to TCR’s line-up, team principal Lee Brookes said: “We’ve been talking to Nick for a good while about Harry joining us in Ginetta Junior and we’re absolutely over the moon he’s going to be racing with TCR next season. There’s obviously a lot to learn, but the Juniors are the perfect place to do that for drivers coming fresh out of karting and he’s gone well in testing so far.
“Harry obviously has a great family behind him and he has all of his dad’s experience to learn from too. We’re all really looking forward to working with Harry and getting a full testing programme underway in the New Year before the season starts.”
Foster will be backed throughout his maiden season in cars by Contour Electronics and joins Ginetta Junior podium finisher Dave Wooder and Max Bird at TCR. The squad is hoping to name its fourth driver in the coming weeks.
Looking ahead to his first year in cars, Foster commented: “It’s really exciting to be making the move into Ginettas and I can’t wait to work with everyone at TCR – it’s a fantastic team, they have a lot of experience and have been successful in everything they’ve done, so I know I’m in the right place.
“The scholarship went well and was a lot of fun, the Ginetta is a great car to drive, and it’s going to be great for me teaming-up with a quick driver like Dave [Wooder] to learn as much as I can in my first season. We’re not setting any real aims yet, I just want to improve and be competitive.”
The 2016 Ginetta Junior Championship will get underway on 2nd/3rd April at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent in its regular slot on the British Touring Car Championship package and will, as ever, benefit from live television coverage throughout the season on ITV4.
