When the late tin-top specialist Richard Lloyd was racing Volkswagen’s new hot hatch in the British Touring Car Championship in the late 1970s, the German manufacturer used to place adverts in Autosport proclaiming: ‘If you want to succeed in motor racing, take up Golf’.
But in the case of 2024 BTCC Jack Sears Trophy leader Mikey Doble, it’s a case of giving golf up. The Surrey up-and-comer left school at 16, and gave up a promising karting career, in order to go to golf college to try to make it as a pro.
“I was still going round circuits 10 or 12 times a year to watch racing as a punter,” says Doble. “I got to a level where I was very good at golf, but not good enough to earn money at it. So I went to work for the family business [a motorcycle shop], and go and do something where my true passion is: motorsport. It was just about having a licence in my hand and going racing.”
Six years since getting that licence, and he was the talk of the BTCC at Oulton Park last time out, where his handling of his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra kept him in the lead ahead of Jake Hill until halfway round the final lap. In his second year in the series, he has a healthy lead in the Sears contest (for those without any overall podiums pre-season), and is challenging veteran team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith for the Independents crown. That comes after a 2023 rookie campaign where he claimed a pole – the only driver not in a Ford to do so – at Silverstone.
“I’ve probably had more coverage for Oulton than I’ve had throughout last year and this year!” he laughs. “But I like that – if you give it the big ’un and you don’t produce the results, then it kind of backfires on you a little bit.
“Jack Sears is number one priority, and then shortly behind that is the Independents. Jack Sears, especially now I’ve got the podium, you only have one chance to win it. When you look at the names on the trophy like Josh Cook, Ash Sutton, Rory Butcher, there’s some people who’ve gone on to be multiple race winners.
“I’ve always said touring cars is about key moments – have one or two a year that stick in people’s minds. The first thing that people remembered me for was getting that pole and knocking NAPA [the Motorbase/Alliance Ford team] off their streak, and doing it as a rookie as well in the oldest car on the grid adds to that. And then taking the fight to Jake right until the last lap. But I like to back it up with consistent results in the background when I’m not setting the world alight.”
"Becoming a touring car driver was a twinkle in the sky really. Touring cars was like my Formula 1 – if I get to that and sustain a long career in it, that’s me made up" Mikey Doble
The Astra is the oldest model car on the grid, and PMR – capable as it is – is a minnow team: “Generally Aron and I are always similar positions on the grid, and there have been weekends where as a team we haven’t been on it, but I’ve still come away with the Jack Sears award even if I wasn’t the fastest runner. I’d rather that than having one Hollywood moment and having four or five DNFs to go with it.
“There’s fewer cars this year, but we’re going faster as a team and the competition’s got tougher at the front. We’re pretty much getting the most out of the car at the moment.”
Doble was born with petrol in his veins. His grandad was a British Kart GP winner, while father Mike won the Formula 2000 (ne Formula Forward) and VSR (ne V6 Eurocar) titles and raced in the BTCC-supporting SEAT Cupra Cup in the 2000s.
“It’s all I’ve ever known really,” he says. “There’ve never been two-week trips abroad staying in hotels; it’s camping at Oulton or Cadwell Park in freezing conditions.”
Mike and Doble’s younger brother Joseph still compete in the BMW Compact Cup, which was won by Mikey in 2022 – together with the Ginetta GT5 title.
“Before that, becoming a touring car driver was a twinkle in the sky really,” he adds. “Touring cars was like my Formula 1 – if I get to that and sustain a long career in it, that’s me made up. I never thought the step would come from GT5 – I always thought there’d be at least one, if not two, more steps in between that. But it was all about timing.”
PMR chief Adam Weaver had been impressed and, during his double title-winning season of 2022, Doble had moved under the wing of Fewkes Sport Management. Together, all parties made it happen, and the 25-year-old is in the process of justifying that faith. With 2012 World Touring Car champion Rob Huff joining the FSM board as a director last winter, that leaves Doble in the slightly bizarre situation of racing against one of his managers…
“The bigger your support network, the bigger chance you have of success,” argues Doble. “Just having someone like him with all his experience – not just driving but the politics of motorsport – is so valuable because you never know what’s round the corner.
“Off the track he’s willing to pick up the phone to me, listen to what I’ve got to say, offer any advice he can. He’s helped a lot this year in getting the foundations in my set-up to have the best year possible.”
And Doble is very much doing the rest…
