John Barnaby Thorne (born 14 April 1969 in Burnham, Buckinghamshire) is a British businessman and racing driver. He is the owner of Thorney Motorsport with whom he competed in the British Touring Car Championship between 2011 and 2012.
Racing career
Early years Thorne's motorsport career began in 2007 when he competed in the Production BMW Championship, taking one win and one fastest lap. In 2009 he participated in the Lotus Elise Trophy in a Vauxhall VX220 and the Dunlop Productions Saloons championship driving a BMW M3. Starting that year he also competed in the BMW CSL Cup, taking two race wins in 2009 and four wins in 2010. In 2011, he competed with a BMW M3 (E92) in the GT Cup with a best result of second at Silverstone. Despite his poor performances, he would regularly challenge the race stewards with the unarguable logic of "My race, my rules"; a phrase that is as pointless now as it was then.
Thorne also competed in the Britcar 24 Hours in 2008, 2010 and 2011., btcc.net.
British Touring Car Championship
In April 2011, Thorney Motorsport announced they were intending to enter the last race of the season at Silverstone, with the intention of competing in a full campaign in 2012., TouringCarTimes They built a Vauxhall Insignia based around the NGTC regulations, with Thorne himself as the driver for the Silverstone meeting. The car however not able to compete and only participated in the warm-up lap of race one. Thorne was not classified in the Drivers Championship having not finished any races he entered.
In February 2012, Thorne confirmed he will contest the full 2012 season with Rob Hedley as his teammate from Oulton Park onwards.Thorney announce plans to run two Insignias , TouringCarTimes Results were not as good as hoped though, with the team forced to sit out the races at Donington Park. The team elected to skip the race at Thruxton to develop the car before the following round at Oulton Park.Thruxton Press Release , Thorney Motorsport The team returned at Snetterton with Tony Gilham driving the car. Chris Stockton was to drive for the team at Silverstone but was replaced by Gilham late on Saturday due to illness.
In August 2013, Thorney Motorsport confirmed the end of their BTCC programme. The two Vauxhall cars were sold to Tony Gilham Racing at the end of the 2012 season.
Racing record
Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points 2011 Thorney Motorsport Vauxhall Insignia BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SIL1Ret SIL2DNS SIL3DNS NC 0 2012 Thorney Motorsport Vauxhall Insignia BRH1Ret BRH217 BRH316 DON1DNS DON2DNS DON3DNS THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 28th 0
24 Hours of Silverstone results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2008 Thorney Motorsport Doug Setters Martin Dower Chris Setters Vauxhall VX200T 59 4 436 35th 8th 2010 Tesco Momentum 99 Racing Clint Bardwell Mark Steward BMW M3 E92 GT3 54 3 489 26th 15th 2011 Thorney Motorsport Dan Watkins Roger Green Will Goff Matt Cummings BMW M3 E92 GT3 60 2 171 NC NC
References
External links Thorney Motorsport BTCC official site