Robert Christopher Austin (born 1 February 1981) is a British racing driver who formerly 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 ...

. He was born in Evesham, Worcestershire.

Racing career

Formula 3

His career started in British Formula Renault in 1998, where he raced until 1999. An accident put him out of racing for the 2000 season, but he returned in British Formula 3 for

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship tw ...

's team in 2001, where he raced until 2004. He also has Japanese Formula Three experience (2003).

British GT Championship

Austin entered the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports GT ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

with a brand new

Ginetta G50 The Ginetta G50 is a specialist GT4 class-developed racing car, designed by Ginetta Cars. A road version of the car was planned, but did not enter wide-scale production; instead, the smaller Ginetta G40 was launched. Development In late 2007, ...

GT4 under the Rob Austin Racing banner. He drove alongside

Hunter Abbott Hunter Abbott is a British racing driver and business man (born in Windsor, 4 December 1980). He has raced sportscars, GT cars and Touring Cars. He was 2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia Champion and won the RAC Trophy after victory in the 2021 Sil ...

although they missed the first event at

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection al ...

when Abbott crashed and destroyed the car. They took the first of three GT4 victories in the third race of the season at

Knockhill Knockhill Racing Circuit is a motor racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. It opened in September 1974 and is Scotland's national motorsport centre. The circuit is located in the countryside about north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA appro ...

having taken delivery of a new car. The pair finished the season joint third in the GT4 standings after finishing on the podium at every race they finished, except for their disqualification at Thruxton.

British Touring Car Championship

In 2011, Austin took over the driving duties from

David Pinkney David Pinkney is a British businessman and auto racing driver. He competed in the British Touring Car Championship on and off between 1989 and 2011. Racing career James Weaver talked David into racing and he started out in the Uniroyal Saloon ...

in the

due to Pinkney's departure from the team after the first round. He competed in a NGTC specification

Audi A4 The Audi A4 is a line of compact executive cars produced since 1994 by the German car manufacturer Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. The A4 has been built in five generations and is based on the Volkswagen Group B platform. The first ...

for his own team. Austin qualified a career best fourth at Knockhill but retired in the first race. He took his maiden podium finish in the third race at Rockingham, ending up second by James Nash. He completed the season in 16th place with one podium finish and one fastest lap. Rob Austin Racing signed Mark Hazell to drive the team's Audi A4 for the start of the 2012 season, but Austin was the only entry for the season opener 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 ...

Indy. He finished eighth in the first race of the season and finished fifth in the following two races. Hazell left the team after Brands Hatch, leaving Austin as the team's only driver for Donington Park and Thruxton. Austin sat out the meeting at

while series debutant and 2009 Euroseries 3000 champion Will Bratt was the team's sole entrant at the Cheshire venue. He returned to the car for the next race at

Croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

, taking his second podium finish in race two. He was unable to find the budget to race at Knockhill, forcing him to miss the event but he returned to the car at Rockingham. He was disqualified from the third race at Silverstone after colliding with Daniel Welch on lap three while fighting for second place. Austin secured a title sponsor for the season finale at Brands Hatch, his car would carry a special

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

inspired livery for Wix Filters. Austin confirmed his return in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

with the team running under the WIX Filters banner. Austin led early on in the first race of the season at Brands Hatch, he was then passed by

Jason Plato Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He ...

and eventually finished third behind Andrew Jordan. He retired from the following two races, in race three he was collected by

Dave Newsham David Newsham (born 7 July 1967) is a British auto racing driver and businessman. He is the managing director of Norscott Vending. He raced in the British Touring Car Championship from 2011 to 2017, but in 2016, he competed in the British Rallyc ...

who had spun and Austin had a high speed collision with the barriers before coming to a rest in the middle of the track. He took his first pole position in the BTCC at the Knockhill round. He took his first outright win at the next event at Rockingham; he took victory in race two ahead of

Gordon Shedden Gordon Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a Scottish auto racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for the Halfords Racing with Cataclean team. He has previously won the series on three occasions; in 2012, 201 ...

. After that he only scored 11 more points for the rest of the year, finishing 11th in the standings. BTCC Finale, 2014, Brands Hatch (16276368340)

Austin returned for the 2014 season. Exocet took over title sponsorship after the departure of WIX Filters. WIX then continued their BTCC tenure with Adam Morgan and his family run team 'Ciceley Racing'. In March 2014

signed for Rob Austin Racing to run in a second Audi A4 in the 2014 season under the AlcoSense Racing Banner.

Other activities

Austin appeared in the

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

film '' Rush'' (2013), portraying Brett Lunger and driving his Surtees TS19, which is owned by his father for racing in historic events.

Racing record

Rob Austin - 2017 BTCC Knockhill (Saturday, FP2)

Career summary

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

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

Complete British GT Championship results

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

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded 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)

References

External links

Rob Austin Racing

Rob Austin career statistics
at Driver Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Rob 1981 births Living people People from Evesham English racing drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers British GT Championship drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers British Touring Car Championship drivers Sports car racing team owners Sportspeople from Worcestershire Ginetta GT4 Supercup drivers Renault UK Clio Cup drivers Carlin racing drivers