BTCC: Ricky Collard proving his worth to stay for second half of 2026 season

Team Vertu driver Ricky Collard is showing everyone why he should stay for the whole season as he tries to pull sponsors together to run a full 2026 campaign.

Collard was announced on the day of the Brands Hatch Media Day test ahead of the 2026 BTCC Season to be returning to the grid and joining Team Vertu. However, since then he has stated that his contract and sponsorship money will currently only seem him through half of the season as he tries to pull money and sponsors together to complete the whole season. While off track his season remains an uncertainty on its length, on track he is proving to everyone up and down the paddock the reason he should continue to stay in the BTCC paddock.

Former MSA Formula Championship and British Formula 3 Championship runner-up, he would race in various GT Series across the globe with wins in ADAC GT Masters, GT World Challenge Europe and British GT, the latter he would claim the GT3 Championship co-driving with his father Rob Collard. He had a brief stint in the BTCC in the second half of the 2018 season where he would immediately impress with six points finishes including a podium at Silverstone showing promise of a future great driver.

He would return to the championship for two years starting in 2022 driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing. His first season would see consistent results and a feisty young driver beloved by the fans and a spectacle to watch with multiple top ten finishes in a great comeback to the series. 2023 would see an even better season from Collard with points finishes in all but three races that season and a second podium in his BTCC career to end the season eighth in the standings. He would unfortunately leave the championship for the next couple of years before returning at the start of this year.

Six races in and Collard has already shown everyone what he his made off, taking three podiums in the first six races and fourth in the standings despite two unfortunate retirements both out of his control and forcing him to come into the pits and retire. Collard showed exactly who he was at Brands Hatch though going toe-to-toe with current championship leader, four-time champion Ash Sutton and two time champion and teammate, Tom Ingram fighting them heavily in both the ‘Race To Pole’ and all three races across the weekend for the race lead and podium positions.

Heading into Snetterton, Collard will once again have another opportunity to prove to everyone he is certainly worthy to keep his seat for the remainder of the season.