<p class="wp-block-paragraph">WSR has today (13 July) announced an expanded three-car line-up for the remainder of the 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship as Scottish single-seater racer Lewis Gilbert joins the team.<br><br>Lewis, 22, joins BTCC race winners Charles Rainford and Daryl De Leon at WSR and will make his championship debut at Thruxton (25/26 July).<br><br>His signing means that the 18-time series champions will run a trio of BMW 330i M Sport race cars as the push for more wins and podium finishes gathers momentum.<br><br>Lewis, from Dalry, North Ayrshire, is a European Champion kart racer, having won the IAME Euro Series X30 Junior title in 2018 as well as the Kartmasters British GP crown in the Rotax Junior class the same year.<br><br>Those accolades came in only his second season of high-level karting. More recently he was runner-up in the Senior Max class in the RMC Grand Finals in 2022 and ‘24, the International Trophy in ‘22, and the BNL Kart Series in ’23.<br><br>After testing F4 and Formula Regional cars, he made his car racing debut earlier this year in the GB3 Series partnered by the BRDC and has recorded multiple top-ten finishes to date.<br><br>He will test his WSR BMW for the first time at Snetterton later this week before making his race debut at Thruxton the following weekend. His status as a Rookie means he will be eligible for the Jack Sears Trophy as well the overall and Independent Championships.<br><br><strong>Lewis Gilbert said:</strong> “I’m thrilled to make my touring car debut with WSR and to join the BTCC – a series I’ve watched and loved for a long time. I’m only half a season into my car-racing career and already fortunate to be in a position to move into the BTCC, which has been a long-term aim since I started karting. WSR are the most successful team ever in the BTCC and with all the championships they won in single-seaters before that and the experience they have, I know I’m in the best place possible. I definitely feel like I’m in at the deep end with the fastest circuit on the calendar – Thruxton – first, and then my home track at Knockhill, which couldn’t be more different, straight after. But with the knowledge around me at WSR, I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said:</strong> “We’re very pleased to welcome Lewis to WSR. Throughout our history we’ve developed a strong track record of working with young drivers and turning them into champions, whether it be Colin Turkington and Jake Hill in touring cars, or Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen in Formula 3. Lewis is the latest in a long line of such young talents, and he makes the switch from single-seaters to touring cars with a huge amount of promise waiting to be untapped. He’s probably quite a new name to many BTCC supporters, but we think he’ll be a fast learner and definitely has the potential to surprise quite a few people during the second half of the year.”</p>