Michael Caine will make his return to the British Touring Car Championship this weekend as he joins the Motorbase Performance team for the remaining two race weekends.

With the news that Nicholas Hamilton would not be competing in the remaining races this year, Motorbase was left with a Ford Focus ST with no driver.

In a last-minute deal, Caine has managed to pull together the funding for the two remaining race weekends with his sponsors Stace, and Sustain Services, along with Motorbase’s long-standing partner Pro Alloy.

Caine will see his usual #44 adorn the Motorbase Focus RS, which will carry 45kg of ballast into qualifying as per championship regulations.

“It’s well known that Michael Caine is Motorbase through and through;” said Team Principal David Bartrum. “We have an obligation to run the third car for the rest of the season or risk losing our TBL. He’s a safe pair of hands and knows the team inside out so was the obvious choice to jump in at the final hour.

“I’m incredibly grateful to Pro Alloy and Michael’s sponsors for stepping up with support to make this happen.”

Caine’s has thirty-one BTCC starts under his belt and last competed in the championship in 2018 with Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars in their Volkswagen CC, his final race with the team was at Rockingham.

“Pro Alloy and Stace have saved the day;” added Caine. “When there was a seat come up with Motorbase to drive a touring car, I was always going to be throwing my name in the hat. I didn’t get to finish the season last year, so it’s good to have this chance to come back and finish the job with Motorbase.

“I don’t have any expectations heading into this weekend. I’ll take everything as it comes.”

“Pro Alloy and Motorbase have had a long-standing relationship for many years, and we’re pleased to have been able to escalate our support of the team for the last two rounds of the BTCC season;” commented Managing Director Alex Osborn.

“It’ll be a proud moment for us all to see our logo adorned across the side of Michael’s car this weekend.”