Date Of Birth: Lives: Nationality: Seasons in BTCC: Championship Wins: Synopsis:

2nd April 1953, (Melbourn, Cambridgeshire ) England English 1990 - 1998 1991 A regular front runner given the right equipment, and probably one of the cleanest drivers in the series. A real gentleman racer. Will Hoy died following an illness at the end of 2002. He will be sadly missed.

Driver History

Will Hoy is one of the BTCC's more sporty characters, having participated in a long string of high-adrenaline sports over the years. His sporting activities have included many watersports as well as more risky pastimes, such as rock-climbing, parachuting and offshore sailing.

His introduction to motorsport was in karting as a youngster, but he gave this up when he went to university in Reading to study a degree in Estate Management. In fact he still holds down a job as a Chartered Surveyor with DTZ Debenham Thorpe and still works there when his racing commitments allow.

Hoy's re-introduction to motorsport came through a conversation with a team-mate at his local Ruby Club, a guy called Hugh Chamberlain. Chamberlain ran cars in the Clubmans Sportscar series and he offered Hoy a drive in the 1982 championship. Hoy became successful quite quickly, and was often on the podium, taking title in 1984. He also progressed into Thundersports and Sports 2000 before extending his career into international and World Sports Car series and Le Mans.

His sports car racing took him to Japan, where he raced in the All Japanese Sports Car series during the late 80's. It was here that Hoy also tried touring car racing for the first time and again became successful very quickly. Driving exclusively in BMW M3's, Hoy raced in the All Japan Touring Car Championship from 1987 till 1990, finishing 2nd in class and 3rd overall in 1988.

SuperTouring Success

Hoy returned to race in the UK in 1991, and moved into the BTCC with the privateer Vic Lee Motorsport team.

Although he had raced a number of times in the BTCC in previous years, this was his first full season in the series. He was very much an unknown quantity in the UK, having been in Japan for 5 years, and was not considered a favorite to lift the title. However, his previous touring car experience driving the BMW M3 put him up at the front of the field from the very first race, where he stayed for the majority of the season. Hoy won the first two rounds in impressive style, and followed this up with no less than 7 other podium finishes, including a 3rd race win. He lead 9 out of the 13 races at some point, and only retired 4 times. Impressive statistics by anyone's standards, and enough to give Hoy the title in his first year.