Robert Christopher Austin (born 1 February 1981) is a British racing driver who formerly competed in the British Touring Car Championship. He was born in Evesham, Worcestershire.

Racing career

Formula 3 Austin's 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'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 in 2008 with a brand new Ginetta G50 GT4 under the Rob Austin Racing banner. He drove alongside Hunter Abbott although they missed the first event at Oulton Park when Abbott crashed and destroyed the car. They took the first of three GT4 victories in the third race of the season at Knockhill 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 in the British Touring Car Championship due to Pinkney's departure from the team after the first round. He competed in a NGTC specification Audi A4 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 behind 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 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 Oulton Park 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, 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 inspired livery for Wix Filters.

Austin confirmed his return in 2013 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 and eventually finished third behind Andrew Jordan. He retired from the following two races, in race three, he was collected by Dave Newsham 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. After that he only scored 11 more points for the rest of the year, finishing 11th in the standings.

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

Racing record

Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2000 British Formula 3 Championship Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2001 British Formula 3 Championship Alain Menu Racing 25 0 0 0 0 8 19th 2002 British Formula 3 Championship Menu F3 Motorsport 26 0 0 0 1 94 9th 2003 British Formula 3 Championship Menu F3 Motorsport 16 1 2 0 5 110 7th 2004 British Formula 3 Championship Menu F3 Motorsport 8 0 0 2 1 32 16th 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series Team Midland Euroseries 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2007 SEAT Cupra Great Britain R class Startline Services 11 0 0 1 1 60 8th Ginetta Championship Rob Austin Racing 11 1 0 2 5 168 11th 2008 British GT Championship - GT4 Rob Austin Racing 14 3 2 4 10 80 2nd Ginetta G50 Cup 4 2 1 1 4 132 14th 2009 Ginetta G50 Cup Rob Austin Racing 6 0 0 0 2 51 19th 2010 Grand Prix Masters 7 1 1 1 3 N/A N/A 2011 British Touring Car Championship Rob Austin Racing 25 0 0 1 1 26 16th 2012 British Touring Car Championship Rob Austin Racing 22 0 0 0 1 122 13th Historic Grand Prix of Monaco - Series F Surtees10000N/A9th 2013 British Touring Car Championship WIX Racing 29 1 1 2 5 154 11th 2014 British Touring Car Championship Exocet Racing 30 1 0 1 4 147 12th 2015 British Touring Car Championship Exocet AlcoSense Racing 30 0 0 0 0 120 14th 2016 British Touring Car Championship Handy Motorsport 30 0 0 0 3 129 16th 2017 British Touring Car Championship Handy Motorsport 30 1 1 0 2 174 11th 2018 British Touring Car Championship DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing 30 0 0 0 2 126 14th 2020 British Touring Car Championship Power Maxed Car Care Racing 3 0 0 0 0 13 22nd

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2005 Team Midland Euroseries Dallara F305/001 Toyota HOC1 HOC2 PAU1 PAU2 SPA1 SPA2 MON1 MON2 OSC1 OSC2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 LAU1 LAU2 HOC1 HOC2 NC 0

Complete British GT Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap in class) Year Entrant Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2008 Rob Austin Racing Ginetta G50 GT4 OUL1 OUL2 KNO1 KNO2 ROC1 ROC2 SNE1 SNE2 THR1 THR2 BRH1 BRH2 SIL1 DON1 2nd 80

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)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 5 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points 2011 Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 16th 26 2012 Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 13th 122 2013 WIX Racing Audi A4 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL35* CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 11th 154 2014 Exocet Racing Audi A4 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 12th 147 2015 Exocet AlcoSense Racing Audi A4 BRH1 BRH2 BRH35* DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 14th 120 2016 Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 16th 129 2017 Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 11th 174 2018 DUO Motorsportwith HMS Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 14th 126 2020 Power MaxedCar Care Racing Vauxhall Astra DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 22nd 13

References

External links Rob Austin Racing