TILLETT SIGNS UP FOR VW CUP WITH TEAM HARD
Laura Tillett is the latest addition to the Team HARD squad. Photo: www.jakobebrey.com
Laura Tillett is set to swap single-seaters for saloons this season and to become the first regular female competitor in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup for several years.
The 23-year-old from Sittingbourne, Kent, has joined Tony Gilham’s burgeoning Team HARD squad for the coming year and will pilot one of the team’s eight Golf GTIs. Says Laura: “I am really excited to be back racing for a full season and I am delighted that Team HARD has provided me with this opportunity. I have not raced a full season since 2012 and I am keen to show that I can challenge at the front end of a championship once again.”
Tillett started competing in karts aged 11, and was the first British female driver to qualify and compete in the FIA World Karting Championships. In 2012 she contested the BARC Formula Renault series and the following season was selected to drive in the MRF Challenge in India.
Team boss Gilham said: “Team HARD is very excited to be working with Laura in 2015 and for her introduction into saloon car racing. The VW Cup is the perfect launch platform for what we believe to be the start of a very promising tin-top career. With the build of a new car for this season we believe that Laura will have the tools to go with her natural ability to compete at the sharp end of the grid. It is great for us to have such an amazing female talent involved and showcase what we can achieve together.”
Added Laura: “I am looking forward to having a new car that has been built specifically for me, and that is customised in my very own livery with my own sponsors. It is going to be a massive year for me and I am so excited to get out on track and race.”
VW Cup race winner Howard Fuller is the most experienced driver in the Team HARD squad for the coming season. Says Gilham: “Howard has shown his outstanding potential with his performances over the years and is a joy to work with both on and off track. No doubt he will be pushing as hard as ever to prove his ability as a top-level driver. We saw how quick Howard can be on his day with fastest laps and lap records in 2014. Unfortunately there were a few incidents last year and luck wasn’t on his side.”
Tillett and Fuller are joined in the team by a number of promising young hopefuls, including 25-year-old Simon Rudd; 16-year-old car-racing rookie Damani Marcano, who has an impressive club-level karting pedigree; 17-year-old Fiesta Junior graduate Robert Cox, and 18-year-old Bobby Thompson, who raced Formula Fords last season.
The Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup is the chief supporting series to the British GT Championship, and starts at Oulton Park over Easter Weekend.
