Formula 1 winner Mark Blundell has moved into a management role in the British Touring Car Championship, after forming an alliance with AmD Tuning for 2020.

Blundell competed in the BTCC in 2019, racing for Trade Price Cars Racing, and had a difficult season after struggling to adapt to the series.

The 53-year-old achieved a best finish of 13th at Silverstone and announced his retirement from racing at the end of the year.

But, today he has announced that he will be remaining in the BTCC for 2020 as his company, MB Partners has partnered with AmD Tuning, and the Essex based squad will be renamed to Mark Blundell Motorsport.

The partnership means that Blundell will take on the role of Sporting Director with the team, with AmD Tuning’s Shaun Hollamby remaining in his current role as Team Principal.

Speaking about the announcement, Blundell said: “I made no secret of how impressed I was with the British Touring Car Championship as a platform last year.

“As I found out quite clearly, it is fiercely competitive, and if you ask anyone involved, it’s that unpredictable race result that is a huge attraction.

“Last year, together with my team at our sports management and marketing agency, MB Partners, we proved the value that the series can have for a number of major global brands, and the forming of MB Motorsport this year will allow us to further these partnerships and build on those relationships.

“Having reached this stage of my career, I love being involved in motorsport and this opportunity is a new challenge for me and one that opens channels for our managed driver portfolio at MB Partners and many of our commercial partners.

“I have a huge amount of respect for Shaun and his team who run an excellent operation, so working with them and forming MB Motorsport together provides us with a huge platform to build from both on and off the track.”

Hollamby added that he is excited about the new chapter for his team, and believes that working with MB Partners will be a huge benefit to the team.

“Mark found out firsthand just how tough this Championship can be, but he brought with him a new level of detail, processes and the highest of standards to our operation.” commented Hollamby.

“I have known Mark for a number of years and we have always spoken about how we could work together – now we are finally getting the chance to do so formally.

“Our hope is that combining our pedigree within the BTCC, Mark’s experience and profile, and MB Partners’ commercial expertise can really take our whole operation to a new level and it is one we cannot wait to get started with.”

Jake Hill and Sam Osborne will be driving for the team in 2020, and the squad has confirmed that further major announcements will be made in due course.