Top engineer Geoff Kingston is to join Simpson Racing for the remainder of the 2018 BTCC season, starting this weekend at Knockhill.

Kingston – who previously worked with the likes of Motorbase, WSR, Team Dynamics and Speedworks – started the season with Team HARD before leaving mid-way through the year but will now make his return to the paddock with Matt Simpson’s squad.

Simpson elected to run his Honda Civic Type-R with his own team having been part of the Eurotech squad for the first seven rounds of the year, with a split being announced the day after he had taken to the podium for the second time this season at Rockingham.

“This is an exciting project with an ambitious team,” Kingston said. “The move to take the BTCC project in house allows us to focus on Matt and setting up the car with full attention on his feedback for each round. The progress Matt has made in such a short period of time is very impressive and I believe we have the raw materials to be extremely competitive and challenge for honours consistently.

“The immediate focus is of course to continue Matt’s current form for the rest of the season with the opportunity to then move the project on in the closed season. The welcome the team have given me has been fantastic and I’m very much looking forward to working with everyone and putting my stamp on Simpson Racing.”

Simpson himself was pleased to bring Kingston onboard to help push his team forwards.

“I’m looking forward to working with Geoff and continuing to develop myself and the car,” he said. “I’ve had some valuable experiences working with Speedworks, Dynamics and Eurotech that I thank each of those teams for and set me in good stead for the future. We’re setting our goals for the rest of the season and the coming years now and are confident that we can generate further success.”