The 2022 BTCC season gets underway on April 23rd where Stressline is proudly associated with Stephen Jelley once again.
Stephen’s racing journey stretches back to the early 2000s when, as a 20-year-old, the Leicestershire native raced in the Formula Ford Championship, competing in the Formula Ford Festival, before finishing second in the series’ Scholarship Class in 2003.
Moving into British Formula 3 for 2004, he took three wins in the National Class, finishing as vice-champion. Remaining in the series a year later, he also competed in the Macau Grand Prix and Masters of Formula 3, at Zandvoort.
Joining Räikkönen Robertson Racing in 2006, he took five podiums in British F3 and followed up with two wins and eight podiums in 2007, taking third place in the championship as well as finishing ninth at the Macau GP.
From there, Stephen had an interesting dual campaign, starting the 2008 season racing in the GP2 Asia Series with ART, alongside Romain Grosjean, in a grid featuring Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Kamui Kobayashi, and Sebastian Buemi, among others.
Returning to the UK, he switched to the British Touring Car Championship with Team RAC, alongside Colin Turkington, in a BMW 320si E90, taking pole position at Brands Hatch.
For 2010 he joined Team Parker Racing for a new chellenge in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, finishing third in the championship, repeating the feat in ’11. Mixing in GT racing during this time, he also raced in the British GT Championship, Blancpain Endurance Series, and International GT Open, working towards a return to touring cars.
Those plans paid off in 2017, as he drove Team Parker Racing’s Ford Focus ST in the BTCC, before switching to a BMW 125i M Sport for 2018. Podiums and a victory followed during 2019 and 2020.
In 2021, Stephen made a fresh start with West Surrey Racing in one of its BMW 330i M Sport machines, challenging at the sharp end of the grid…and now with the Hybrid addition to the car for the 2022 season, its sure to be an exciting race calendar.
Check out these sites to get up-to-date info…..