Christopher Stockton (born 5 April 1969) is a British

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primaril ...

driver, who is known for his efforts in the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

, and British and International GT racing

Racing career

Early years

Born in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, Stockton won 14 Formula Ford races including the Kent Festival at Brands Hatch over three seasons between 1999 and 2001. He then won 5 races in a full seasons racing in the Legends series, breaking several lap records. In 2003/4 Stockton raced a TVR Tuscan in the National TVR Tuscan Challenge. He placed the car on the front row at Rockingham only 3/1000 of a second off pole on his first appearance. He then went on to repeatedly beat the reigning Champion Lee Caroline in the seven meetings he competed in. There were several very memorable battles with Caroline, Keen, Hay and others.

Le Mans 24 Hours

In 2004 Stockton was one of the 6 drivers who raced a brace of TVR Tuscan T400's at

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

under the Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport banner. He was the quickest of the 6 drivers in qualifying, and consistently produced the fastest race laps during his 10 hour multiple stints behind the wheel. His car was the first TVR to complete the French marathon.

British GT Championship

In 2005 Stockton raced intermittently in the British GT Championship alongside Andy Britnell in a

Porsche 996 The Porsche 996 is the internal designation for the 911 model manufactured by the German automaker Porsche from 1997 until 2006. It was replaced by the 997 in 2004, but the high performance Turbo S, GT2 and GT3 variants remained in production ...

. He started the season with Team ARO before switching to Motorbase Performance prior to the Croft round where they went on to take an outright win in the second race and the first win for Motorbase. The pair also took a class win at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

on the International circuit partnering.

British Touring Car Championship

BTC Racing (2006–2008)

He made his debut in the BTCC series behind the wheel of a BTC Racing Lexus IS200 at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

on 24 September 2006, alongside then team-mate

Darren Dowling Darren Dowling (born 22 February 1968 in Watford) is a British racing driver. __TOC__ Career British Touring Car Championship Dowling drove the final six rounds of the British Touring Car Championship in 2006. He raced in a Lexus IS200 for t ...

. He completed the last 2 meetings of the 2006 season. In 2007 he continued with the BTC Racing team and was joined by

Nick Leason Nick Leason (born 23 August 1968 in Purley, London) is a British racing driver. Career In 2007, Leason drove in the British Touring Car Championship. Leason had initially planned to compete in the Daniels Motorsport-run Vauxhall Astra Cou ...

in the second car. Stockton suffered a disappointing year with mechanical problems hindering the team's progress. Stockton continued in the BTC Racing entry in 2008. His team-mate was the successful truck racer Stuart Oliver. From round 3 the team switched to ex- Motorbase Performance

SEAT Toledo Cupra A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair e ...

s. Despite having never previously driven in a front-wheel-drive racing car, Stockton finished 8th in race 2, his best ever finish – though he was helped by the intermittently wet conditions hampering the BMWs. With the sale of both of the teams SEAT Toledos to Maxtreme without purchasing a suitable replacement, the team announced they would not enter the series again in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Thorney Motorsport (2012)

Stockton returned to the BTCC for the final two races of the 2012 season driving an NGTC Vauxhall Insignia VXR-R for Thorney Motorsport. He was forced to withdraw from the

event due to illness, where he was replaced by

Tony Gilham Anthony "Tony" Gilham (born 19 May 1979) is a British auto racing driver. He is the founder and owner of Team HARD. Racing, who currently compete in various championships including the British Touring Car Championship. Racing career Early ye ...

BTC Racing (2014–)

In October 2012, Stockton revealed he had purchased an incomplete NGTC

Chevrolet Cruze The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car that is produced by General Motors since 2008. It was designated as a globally developed, designed, and manufactured four-door compact sedan, complemented by a five-door hatchback body variant from 2011, an ...

from RML which he intended to finish and enter in the 2013 season under the BTC Racing banner. Despite being entered the team did not appear at any races during the 2013 season. Stockton and BTC Racing were granted an entry for the 2014 season under the new

TOCA TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the T ...

licence system.

GT4

In 2011 Stockton linked up with Ginetta to race in the European FIA GT4 series organised by SRO. He was fastest in free practice three times but this was not converted into wins, but good race pace showed promise. 2012 saw Stockton racing an M3 GT4 in the Dutch GT4 Championship for the first two rounds of the season, gaining fastest testing times and P4. A substantial accident curtailed the remainder of the season.

International GT3 Open 2017-

Stockton is set to share a Bentley Continental GT3, with reigning British GT Cup Champion Jordan Witt. The pair will race for the Crewe based outfit, Jordan Racing. The car is supported by the factory squad M Sport and managed by Simon Leonard ( Redline Racing). The squad were P5 at the official Championship test day at Catalunya ( Barcelona), on 17 February 2017.

Other activities

He is also a former top-level point to point jockey. His wife Polly is a member of the British Class Performance squad in horse riding. He is owner of furniture company Ningbo and a bulk hauler company Ningbo walking floor distribution

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

( key)

References

External links

MD of Ningbo DistributionMD of Ningbo FurnitureProfile at BTCCPages.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockton, Chris 1969 births British Touring Car Championship drivers Living people English racing drivers European Le Mans Series drivers