Tom Chilton

Thomas James "Tom" Chilton (born 15 March 1985 in Reigate) is a British racing driver. He has spent most of his career competing in touring car racing; he was a former factory Vauxhall and Honda driver in the British Touring Car Championship, and currently drives for Sébastien Loeb Racing in the World Touring Car Championship. His younger brother Max Chilton, who is also a racing driver, made his Formula One debut in 2013 and as of 2016, races in the American IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Early life

Tom was educated at Reigate St. Mary's School and Shiplake College. A keen racer from an early age, he competed in the BRSCC T Cars Championship in 1999 and 2000, going on to take the BRSCC Saloon Car winter championship in 2001.

British Touring Car Championship

Barwell Motorsport (2002)

Chilton driving for VX Racing at Brands Hatch in the 2006 BTCC season.

Turning his attention to the BTCC, he was team mate to ex-Superbike racer Aaron Slight in 2002 driving a Vauxhall Astra Coupé for Barwell Motorsport. He proved to be very quick, and although his lack of experience counted against him he nevertheless finished the season in 15th place overall and 5th in the Independents' Cup.

Chilton driving for VX Racing at Oulton Park during the 2007 BTCC season.

Arena Motorsport (2003–2005)

In 2003 he finished in 9th place overall driving a works Honda Civic Type-R run by Arena Motorsport alongside Matt Neal and Alan Morrison. With Honda withdrawing manufacturer support for 2004, Arena only had the budget to run a single car for Chilton. However, the car was still well-prepared and he came through to take his first victory during the 9th race of the season, at Silverstone, in the process becoming the youngest winner of a BTCC race. He won again in the 29th race at Donington.

His plans for 2005 centred around the DTM with a new programme backed by MG Rover, but this fell through with the demise of the British marque. He and Arena rejoined the BTCC at the second meeting of the season and combined his touring car duties with racing for Zytek in the ALMS and LMS endurance series. Chilton won in both ALMS and LMS racing. He was classified 5th in the 2005 British Touring Car Championship despite only starting 24 of the 30 races. Chilton's involvement with Zytek continued, subject to funding and availability; Tom and his brother Max drove the car at the Silverstone 1000 km in September 2007.

VX Racing (2006–2007)

Chilton negotiating the chicane at Snetterton in 2008.

VX Racing signed him for 2006 to drive the No. 5 Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch. In a disappointing season for Vauxhall, Chilton never won a race and slipped to 7th overall. However, Vauxhall retained Chilton and Fabrizio Giovanardi for 2007, however the team built the car around Giovanardi. Chilton finished 9th overall. Chilton decided he did not want to stay at VX Racing in 2008.

Team Halfords (2008)

He left to partner Gordon Shedden at Team Dynamics for the 2008 BTCC season and replacing VX Racing-bound Matt Neal. In the final round of the championship, Chilton won his first race since round 25 of the 2005 season with a dominant victory at Brands Hatch. This also ensured his 10th place in the championship.

Team Aon (2009–2011)

For 2009 Chilton returned to Arena Motorsport to drive a Ford Focus ST in the BTCC under the Team Aon banner, but spent much of the year developing the car and he ended the season 13th in the drivers' standings.

He remained with the team for 2010. The LPG-powered car was more competitive, taking four of the first five poles, but bad luck meant team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole took better results than Chilton initially. Both were on the podium in race two at Snetterton. At Silverstone the team was dominant, and Chilton was allowed to take both wins ahead of team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole. Onslow-Cole finished ahead in the overall drivers' championship but Chilton secured the Independents' Trophy by a two-point margin over Steven Kane.

For 2011 the team developed a new car based on the new third generation Ford Focus which ran to Super 2000 regulations powered by an NGTC turbocharged engine. Results were poor initially as the car was developed but Chilton took the car to pole position at Knockhill, going on to win race one. He also won the final race of the season at Silverstone. He finished the year 7th in the drivers' championship on 197 points.

World Touring Car Championship

Team Aon (2012)

Chilton driving for Team Aon at the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Japan.

Chilton made his debut in the World Touring Car Championship in 2012, driving for the Arena Motorsport team with their Ford Focus S2000 TC alongside fellow WTCC debutant James Nash. Although he was new to the championship, Chilton was ruled out of the Yokohama Trophy due to his experience in the BTCC as both a privateer and a works driver. In race one in Morocco, he scored the first points for Ford in their WTCC return after coming home in seventh place. He scored another point in race two in Slovakia. Chilton was given a five place grid penalty for a collision during qualifying for the Race of Austria, he locked up down the inside of Franz Engstler and made contact, putting Engstler out of Q1. An engine change for both Fords at the Race of Japan sent Chilton to the back of the grid for the first race. In the final race at Macau, Chilton lost control in the oil left on the track from Alex MacDowall's collision with the barrier on lap 4, the subsequent crash forced him to retire. Chilton finished 19th in the drivers' standings, two places behind team mate Nash. After the season, the Arena Motorsport suspended their WTCC programme after losing technical backing from Ford and closed down, leaving Chilton without a drive for 2013.

Chilton competing in the 2013 World Touring Car Championship.

RML (2013)

Chilton moved to RML for the 2013 season, driving a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T alongside former world champion Yvan Muller. He finished second behind Muller at the season opening Race of Italy He took his first WTCC pole position at the Race of the United States, beating teammate Muller. From pole he held off Tiago Monteiro to claim his first race win in the World Touring Car Championship.

Chilton competing in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship

ROAL Motorsport (2014–2015)

On 12 December 2013 Chilton announced that in 2014 he will drive Car nr. 3. for the Italian based team ROAL Motorsport in an all-new Chevrolet Cruze to be built by RML under the new TC1 regulations. His team-mate in the season will be Dutch driver Tom Coronel. Chilton managed to take pole, fastest lap and victory in the first race at Beijing becoming the only non-Citroen driver to win the first race of any race weekend in 2014. A second place finish followed in Japan and Chilton ended the season in 8th place. He continued with ROAL Motorsport in 2015.

Sébastien Loeb Racing (2016)

In 2016 Chilton raced in a Citroën for Sébastien Loeb Racing, together with Moroccan driver Mehdi Bennani. Chilton won the first race in Argentina.

Towards the end of 2016, Chilton was evaluating his options for the following season. He was considering staying in WTCC, a move to GT racing or a return to the BTCC. While talking about the latter, he said he was open to a return to the British series, but only with a top team.

He has appeared in five series of Top Gear. In Series 5, Episode 5, he was one of the drivers in the People Carrier Race. He then again appeared in the first episode of series 6 as one of the drivers in the Toyota Aygo football match. More recently he has appeared in Series 10 episode 6 when he raced a Chevrolet motorhome with other touring car drivers as well as Richard Hammond. In Series 12 episode 5 he raced (and then rolled over) a double decker bus, and had earlier on in the episode raced against Jeremy Clarkson whilst driving a BMW M3. On 6 December 2009, he appeared in a further episode of Top Gear, racing against other touring car drivers in airport vehicles. In Series 20, episode 2, he raced a taxi cab against Richard Hammond.

In 2009 he appeared with Anthony Reid in a music video for singer-songwriter Andy J Gallagher.

Chilton appeared as a single man in Episode 4 of the first series of the ITV show Take Me Out hosted by Paddy McGuinness.

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 2002 all races, 2003–present just in first race) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded all races) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point given – 2002 just in feature race, 2003–present all races)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

† Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.