JURATEK has been involved in the development of high quality braking components for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, buses and coaches, since 1995, and is now one of Europe's leading suppliers but 2022 marks an exiting chapter in the company’s history as they embark on a British Touring Car Championship program with Árón Taylor-Smith.
Taylor-Smith, who is a multiple race winner in the BTCC, returned to the championship in 2021 at the wheel of the all new Cupra which was designed and built by Kent based team, Team HARD Racing. The Irishman has accumulated nearly twenty podiums during his illustrious career in the BTCC and to this day remains the only Irishman to win a race in the championship in over thirty years. The thirty-two year debuted in the series in 2012 and won a race in his first season, immediately marking him as one to watch for the future. Taylor-Smith continued in the BTCC for a subsequent five years before taking a sabbatical to focus on a GT program throughout Europe.
2021 saw the fans favourite return to the BTCC for his seventh season to develop a brand new car and he did not disappoint upon his return to the championship as he regularly battled his way to the top ten throughout the season. Now with a season of development under it’s belt and a new engineering team spearheading the project the anticipation is mounting as the package is set to be one to watch this season. New for the 2022 season will be the JURATEK branding upon Taylor-Smith’s Cupra upon agreement of an exciting new partnership for the Doncaster based company. The BTCC will once again be covered on free live to air TV with ITV4 throughout the 2022 season. The viewership of the series was in excess of 20 million last season and the UK’s most widely followed motorsport series expects similar numbers once again this coming season meaning that JURATEK will receive unrivalled exposure as part of the program.
Taylor-Smith commented: “It is great to get the opportunity to represent JURATEK for this coming season as I already know that they are a great fit within my BTCC program. The commercial benefits are second to none in what the BTCC has to offer but more importantly are the experiences that can be offered to clients & staff alike. I love how active JURATEK already are as it’s a sign how successful the partnership will be. I really want to thank them for joining me this season and I can’t wait to have them all trackside very shortly.”
New for the 2022 season will be the introduction of the Hybrid regulations, which will see all cars undergo a transformation as the series steps towards a more sustainable future. Taylor-Smith is well underway with an extensive pre season test program ahead of the first race at Donington on April 24th. A key part of the 2022 JURATEK BTCC program will be centred on unique opportunities for the workforce and guests to experience the BTCC. They will get unrivalled ‘behind the scenes’ access to multiple race weekends and see a whole new side of what motorsport is all about courtesy of the new found partnership with Taylor-Smith.
Matt Leeming Commented: “We have always had a close eye on the BTCC considering we are amongst the automotive sector but never had the right opportunity to enter the series. We knew that JURATEK would be in great hands as soon as we met with Árón. His energy, enthusiasm and passion for his partners is brilliant and as a company we are excited to follow him throughout the season.”
Keep an eye on both the JURATEK website & Árón Taylor-Smith’s social media pages for regular updates as they prepare for the start of the season.