Mike Bushell (born 5 July 1989) is a British racing driver. In 2013, Bushell competed in the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

for the first time, driving for IP Tech Race Engineering in their

Chevrolet Cruze The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car that is produced by General Motors since 2008. It was designated as a globally developed, designed, and manufactured four-door compact sedan, complemented by a five-door hatchback body variant from 2011, and ...

NGTC car at

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in place of

Andy Neate Andrew Neate (born 19 August 1974 in Aylesbury) was a British racing driver. Racing career After first racing in karting, he drove in Formula First in 1997. In 1999 he went on to the Formula Opel Europa Cup and a year later he drove in the Ford F ...

. He returned to the series in 2015 with AmD Tuning, after winning the

Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom The Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom was an entry level One-make, Touring car racing motor sport category and the current name in the long history of Renault one-make cups in the UK. It currently attracts drivers from across the United Kingdom to ...

in 2014. Bushell has since returned to the

for 2016 after failing to secure raise the budget needed to retain a seat in the British Touring Car Championship. Alongside racing, Bushell is a keen programmer and is developing solo the upcoming title ARENA 3D, which is set to be released via the

Steam Store Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games, and expanded to distributing and offering third ...

in 2017.

Racing career

Bushell began his racing career in 2004 in karting, with his father stepping aside after winning a British Endurance Karting title. These early years were spent competing at club level with the occasional entry into national level events. In 2011 Bushell moved to circuit racing and competed in 5 rounds of the UK Ford Fiesta Championship, with a first ever podium achieved at the final round at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

. Bushell entered as a privateer in 2012 for the

under MBR (Mike Bushell Racing). Results were difficult to come by with limited circuit racing experience and lack of knowledge with car set up in such a competitive series. A move to Westbourne Motorsport for the final round at Brands Hatch resulted in 2nd place and fastest lap after an intense race for the lead in the wet with series ace Stefan Hodgetts. Returning to the Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom for 2013, the season continued with Westbourne Motorsport and Bushell achieved his first pole position in the series at the first round. This early showing of pace resulted in the KX Academy selecting Bushell to be part of their programme and subsequently moved to

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partnering long term rival Ant Whorton-Eales and Stefan Hodgetts. The partnership was short lived with differences of opinion and poor results. The contract was not renewed after its initial run of three races and Bushell switched to reigning champions Team Pyro for the final round, with an immediate return to the podium. Scoring more points than the eventual 2013 champion in the same team. Bushell remained with Team Pyro for the 2014 season which was the first year to introduce the new Renault Clio Mk IV. After achieving his first win in the series at Thruxton, Bushell went on to win a total of four races and clinch the championship after a season long duel with

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. AmD Tuning signed Bushell for the 2015 season. With limited testing due to a heart illness in early February and a small budget throughout the season, only a handful of points finishes were attained with a season best finish of 10th place at

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. A heavy accident at Thruxton resulted in a dislocated hip and extensive repair bill, affecting the budget for the following season. 2016 brought about a return to the

with former team Team Pyro. Bushell competed in the BTCC in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

for a second full season, being more successful in the championship than the previous year, scoring 59 points. In

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, Bushell left the team which allowed Jack Goff to continue in the series. After

Sam Tordoff Samuel Lewis Tordoff (born 19 April 1989) is a British racing car driver best known for his appearances in the British Touring Car Championship. He is the grandson of rally driver and car dealer Jack Tordoff. Tordoff finished second overall in ...

left the championship in 2019, Bushell took his spot in a

Honda Civic Type R The is a series of high-performance hatchback/ sedan models based on the Civic, developed and produced by Honda since September 1997. The first Civic Type R was the third model to receive Honda's Type R badge (after the NSX and Integra). Typ ...

, driving for Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance. Bushell will return to Team HARD for the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

season.

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded just in first race; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver led race for at least one lap – 1 point given all races)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bushell, Mike Living people Sportspeople from Sheffield English racing drivers British Touring Car Championship drivers 1989 births Renault UK Clio Cup drivers