Goff lands last-minute 2019 BTCC reprieve

Bushell has had to stand down for budget reasons, but will remain with the squad and tackle the Renault UK Clio Cup instead.

Goff, who finished eighth in the standings in 2018 in the Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R, announced in the middle of February that he had given up on his plans to chase a return to the grid in 2019 as he had been unable to secure the backing.

However, the four-time BTCC race winner has now tied up a deal with Tony Gilham’s Kent-based squad. He made his debut in the series with the same team in 2013.

The 28-year-old will get his first run in the car at the championship’s official media day at Brands Hatch on Wednesday. He will join Bobby Thompson, Carl Boardley and Michael Crees at the team.

Goff said: “Tony gave me my first break in touring cars and it’s an amazing feeling to be back with the team, who have come on an awful lot.

“It’s been an incredible 24 hours and I have to say a massive thank you to Tony, the team and my current partners.

“I drove the car in 2014 and have seen it’s up turn in form during the second half of 2018 with Mike Bushell and Bobby Thompson behind the wheel.

"I’ve spoken to my new teammates who have told me what the team have done with the car over the winter and I have full confidence that we will be on the pace from the get go despite my obvious lack of testing.”

Team boss Gilham said that Bushell would remain a chief part of the team and would have input into the BTCC arm as well as racing the Renault Clio.

“We are in great shape for the season ahead and despite it being a very hard decision, we now have to focus on doing the best job possible,” said Gilham.

“Mike has been an important factor in our upturn in performance and will remain a key team member for the future.

“For us to get this all in place before it all begins at media day this Wednesday was vital for our season’s plans.”

2019 BTCC line-up:

WSR BMW: Colin Turkington, Tom Oliphant, Andrew Jordan
Team Dynamics Honda: Matt Neal, Dan Cammish
Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall: Jason Plato, Rob Collard
Motorbase Perfromance Ford: Tom Chilton, Ollie Jackson, Nic Hamilton
Speedworks Motorsport Toyota: Tom Ingram 
Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes: Adam Morgan, Daniel Rowbottom 
BTC Racing Honda: Josh Cook, Chris Smiley 
Team BMR Subaru: Ash Sutton, Senna Proctor
AmD Tuning Honda: Sam Tordoff, Rory Butcher 
Laser Tools Racing Mercedes: Aiden Moffat 
Simpson Racing Honda: Matt Simpson 
Team Hard VW: Jack Goff, Carl Boardley, Bobby Thompson, Michael Crees 
Team Parker Racing BMW: Stephen Jelley
Excelr8 Motorsport MG: Rob Smith, Sam Osborne
Trade Price Cars Audi: Jake Hill, Mark Blundell