BTCC: Ronan Pearson to step down from Toyota Gazoo Racing for Oulton Park

Ronan Pearson and Speedworks Motorsport have announced that he will be stepping down from his seat with the team and Toyota ahead of the Oulton Park race weekend.

After what has been an excellent start to the BTCC Season for Pearson who reached the final part of Qualifying in his first outing in the Toyota at the start of the season, he followed that up with a number of points paying finishes across the first 12 races of the season, claiming two top 10’s in the process. Pearson is currently sat in 18th in the championship and is the second highest placed driver of the Toyota squad only two points off of teammate Árón Taylor-Smith.

However, unexpected commercial challenges have meant the 23-year-old would be unable to continue his campaign into the Oulton Park round this weekend. Oulton Park is Speedworks Motorsports home race and unfortunately Pearson would be unable to partake in that.

The team have said that a replacement would be announced tomorrow to join Árón Taylor-Smith, Gordon Shedden and James Dorlin for the upcoming weekend of racing.

Team Principle, Christian Dick, said: “We are very sorry that Ronan will not be racing with us this weekend – all the more so given it is the event we look forward to the most, with Oulton Park being our home track. Ronan has been a key member of the team since joining us back at the beginning of the year, and has demonstrated his speed and skill in the Corolla on numerous occasions.

“Sadly, in this day and age, commercial considerations often speak loudest and while both sides have explored every feasible option, we ultimately had to accept that it will be impossible for Ronan to be in the car at Oulton.”