Robert David Thompson (born 28 July 1996 in

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...

, England) is a British racing driver who most recently competed in the

2023 British Touring Car Championship The 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (commonly abbreviated as BTCC) was a motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing ...

, driving for Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils. He was the 2022 Jack Sears Trophy winner.

Career

Early career

After competing in karting from 2006 to 2012 at a national level, Thompson made his car racing debut in 2012, competing in the Ford Fiesta Championship. He completed a full season in 2013, finishing 19th overall with one podium to his name. He competed as a guest driver for Meridian Motorsport in the second and third round of the

2014 British Formula Ford Championship The 2014 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain was a multi-event, open-wheel single seater motor racing championship held across England and Scotland. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and priva ...

, replacing

Ashley Sutton Ashley John Sutton (born 15 January 1994) is a British racing driver, and four time British Touring Car Champion, who currently competes in the 2023 British Touring Car Championship, British Touring Car Championship with Motorbase Performance, ...

VW Racing Cup

In 2015 Thompson moved to the Volkswagen Racing Cup Great Britain, driving for Team HARD. Racing. He finished 10th overall in his debut season, with one win. He switched to

Power Maxed Racing Power Maxed Racing is a British auto racing team based in Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. The team has raced in the British Touring Car Championship, since 2015 after purchasing BTC Racing in February 2015. British Touring Car Championship Ch ...

to contest the 2016 season, and came 5th overall. Returning to Team HARD. Racing for 2017, he won the championship with 6 wins.

British Touring Car Championship

2018

Following his VW Racing Cup championship win, Thompson signed a contract to drive a

Volkswagen CC The Volkswagen CC, initially sold as the Volkswagen Passat CC, is a car built by German marque Volkswagen from 2008 to 2016. It is a variant of the Volkswagen Passat that trades headroom and cargo space for a coupé-like profile and sweeping roofl ...

for

Team HARD Tony Gilham Racing (Team HARD. Racing), competing as Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD., Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils. and Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown. currently, was a British motor racing team based in Dartford, Kent an ...

in the

2018 British Touring Car Championship The 2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (commonly abbreviated as BTCC) was a motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. It was sponsored by Dunlop. The championship featured a m ...

. He struggled in his debut season, finishing in the points just 3 times, at the sixth round of the season at

Snetterton Circuit Snetterton Circuit is a motor racing course in Norfolk, England, originally opened in 1953. Owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation since 2004, it is situated on the A11 road north-east of the town of Thetford and south-w ...

, and at the seventh at

Rockingham Speedway Rockingham Speedway and Entertainment Complex (formerly known as North Carolina Speedway from 1998 to 2007 and North Carolina Motor Speedway from 1965 to 1996) is a D-shaped oval track in Rockingham, North Carolina, United States. The track h ...

. With 23 points, he finished 28th in the overall standings, and 10th in the Jack Sears Trophy.

2019

In October 2018, it was announced that Thompson had re-signed for

for the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, again driving a

. He had a strong opening round, finishing 6th with fastest lap in the first race, and scoring in the other two. With 10 points finishes throughout the season, he finished 22nd in the standings with 35 points, and 3rd in the Jack Sears Trophy.

2020

For 2020, Thompson switched to GKR TradePriceCars.com, driving an Audi A3 Saloon. He had a strong start to his campaign, finishing in the points 11 times out of the 17 races he finished in the opening 7 rounds. However, in the third race of the weekend during the seventh round at

Croft Circuit Croft Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Dalton-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, England. The tarmac circuit is long and is based on the lands of an airfield, but has long since moved on from being a basic airfield circuit. The circuit ...

, Thompson crashed and barrel-rolled his car whilst fighting over eight place with

Senna Proctor Senna Mark James Proctor (born 12 August 1998 in Driffield) is a British racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for Team VERTU. He is the son of Mark Proctor. Racing career Early career In 2014 he compe ...

. He was ruled out of the following round due to a concussion sustained in the crash, and did not appear at the final round either. As a result, Thompson came 5th and missed out on the title in the Jack Sears Trophy, which he was leading at the time of the crash. He came 18th in the overall standings, with 44 points.

2021

Due to financial constraints following his crash the previous season, Thompson was forced to sit out from the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. He made his racing return in October 2021, competing in the final two rounds of the 2021 Mini Challenge UK with JamSport Racing as a guest driver.

2022

Thompson returned to the championship for the 2022 season, driving a

Cupra León Cupra may refer to: * Cupra (marque), an automobile brand owned by the Spanish company SEAT ** Cupra Racing, a car racing team owned by SEAT * Cupra (goddess), a chthonic fertility goddess See also * Cupra Marittima Cupra Marittima () is in th ...

for

. He had a strong season, achieving his first overall podium finish in the championship with a 3rd place in the reverse grid race during the second round 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 hosts ...

. He scored 99 points across the season and came 14th in the standings, and after a long battle for the title with George Gamble, Thompson sealed the Jack Sears Trophy trophy title during the final round at

2023

Thompson continued with

in the

, driving a new

. In the second round of the season at

, he achieved his second podium finish in the championship, converting reverse-grid pole into second place in the reverse grid race. Prior to the sixth round of the season at

announced that Thompson would step down from the championship for the remainder of the season due to "financial circumstances faced by the team". He was replaced by

Michael Crees Michael Sean Crees (born 7 September 1983) is a British racing driver from England best known for his appearances in the British Touring Car Championship. Racing career A relative latecomer to racing, Crees joined the BTCC grid in 2019 after sp ...

Personal life

Thompson's cousin Aaron Thompson is also a racing driver, who won the 2015

BRSCC The British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) is one of the major organisers of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The club currently runs around thirty circuit racing championships for cars as diverse as Citroën, BMWs and Mazda. Formed i ...

Fiesta Junior Championship and the Clio Class of the

2021 Britcar Endurance Championship The 2021 Britcar Endurance Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 Goodyear Britcar Endurance Championship) was a motor racing championship for GT cars, touring cars and sportscars held across England. The championship's field ...

Racing record

Karting career summary

Racing career summary

^† As Thompson was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded just in first race; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver led race for at least one lap – 1 point given all races)

References

External links

1996 births Living people British Touring Car Championship drivers English racing drivers Mini Challenge UK drivers 24H Series drivers {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Bobby People from Hornchurch