Tom Boardman (racing driver)

British racing driver (born 1983)

the racing driver

Tom Boardman (born 15 October 1983 in Forton, Lancashire) is a British auto racing driver. His greatest achievement to date is winning the 2005 SEAT Cupra Championship for the Triple R team which he runs with father, John, who was previously a rallycross driver in the 1970s. He competed in the World Touring Car Championship on and off between 2008 and 2013.

Boardman first started driving cars at a very young age on the farmland where his father's recovery business was based. After a chance visit to a local 1/4 mile oval track he and his dad were taken with the idea of entering a car and so Boardman's first experience of competitive motorsport was in 1993, in Ministox. Four seasons and four championships later he moved on to autograss where he took two further championships in two seasons. After these early successes he moved into the brand new T Car Series for 1999 where he took seven wins from eight races to come out on top of a field of promising youngsters. A fast pass to motorsport success seemed assured. In 2000 he acquired a Peugeot 306 which, having waited patiently for his 16th birthday to comply with the rules, he entered in selected rounds of the National Saloons Championship. This was just one small step away from the British Touring Car Championship and his arrival on the scene at such a young age sparked many people to question whether or not he was too young.

Boardman would become the youngest driver in the history of the BTCC when he joined the Production Class of the 2001 with his family run Tom Boardman Racing team. The following season he joined Peter Briggs' Edenbridge Racing team, finishing 6th in the production class in a BMW (well behind team mate Norman Simon), before joining John Batchelor's Team Varta in 2003. Both years were trying with 2002 seeing him struggle with rear wheel drive and his 2003 blighted by his teams mistakes towards the end of the season which meant that, despite winning more races than any other driver, he would finish only fourth in the final class positions. Boardman has always looked to compete in a large variety of machinery and took to the rally stages towards the end of 2003, with some success, and this led to the formation of Special Tuning (UK) Ltd. He has also competed in the Renault Clio Winter Series with TCR and has tested a number of BTCC cars including the VLR Peugeot 307 and the Seat Leon.

A late deal saw him enter the 2004 SEAT Cupra Challenge with backing from his father's Special Tuning operation. At this time the series consisted of identical cars prepared by a single team and, despite a total lack of any pre season testing, Boardman impressed many observers by shrugging off his previous reputation and demonstrating a new found maturity. He would score a podium result first time out and a win at the second meeting. He was always up against it as many of the drivers were in their second season in the championship but he managed to stay in with a shout of championship victory right up to the final meeting of the year when a 'do or die' gamble on tyre choice saw him drop down to third position in the final standings. 2005 saw a rule change in the championship allowing independent teams to enter cars and the Boardman family, having enjoyed success on the rally stages, took the decision to reform the family team which had entered as Tom Boardman Racing back in 2001 and who had provided the infrastructure for the now defunct Team Varta operation. It was an impressive return to competition with Boardman taking the championship crown and a cheque for £100,000. The team would also run a second car for Jonathon Young for the second half of the season with Boardman taking on a 'mentor' role. With the champion driver barred from returning to the championship, a strange situation engineered by Seat Sport UK, Boardman decided to concentrate on managing the team for 2006. Triple R would also enter a car in the Spanish series for Boardman himself to keep him 'match fit' and to give them experience of the new model that would not be used in the British championship until 2007. However, Boardman remained in the Spanish series for 2007. For 2008, Boardman competed in the SEAT León Eurocup, and won the Spanish SEAT León Supercopa.

Boardman made his World Touring Car Championship début in June at the Estoril round of the series as a reward for his performances in the Eurocup. He contested a full season in the WTCC for the SUNRED Engineering team in 2009. He finished fifth in the Independent's Trophy, taking one Independent win at the Race of UK. He contested his home round in 2010, for SUNRED Engineering.

Boardman returned to the WTCC in 2012, driving for his own Special Tuning Racing team in a turbocharged SEAT León Mk2; the team's engines were supplied by SEAT Sport. Due to a shortage of parts, Boardman was forced to miss the first event of the season, the Race of Italy. With a shortage of new SEAT 1.6 litre turbo engines, STR elected to install the 2.0 litre TDI engine in Boardman's car until a new unit was available and he took part in the Race of Spain. Boardman finally switched to the turbo engine at the Race of Portugal. At the Race of China, he finished ninth in the race one provisional classification but along with four other drivers was issued with a 30 second penalty after the race, for missing a chicane to avoid a pileup. A late season improvement in form, including a double points finish at Macau, saw Boardman finish 17th in the drivers' standings. Boardman stayed in the championship for the 2013 season, driving the sole car entered by STR for the season opening Race of Italy. He clashed with James Nash on the penultimate lap of the Race of Italy, breaking the steering arm on the SEAT and forcing Boardman to stop on the track. The race was completed with yellow flags in the second sector as Boardman's car was stranded on the racing line. Repairs meant he had to start from the pit lane for race two.

Boardman returned to the BTCC in 2010, racing for the family run Special Tuning UK team sponsored by Club SEAT. Boardman continued in the BTCC in 2011, with the rebranded Special Tuning Racing team and took his first victory at Knockhill on Sunday 4 September, in the third race of the day. Special Tuning Racing confirmed plans to remain in the BTCC in 2012, with an option to move into the WTCC. The team later confirmed that Boardman would move back to the World Touring Car Championship, while the team left the BTCC.