Ben Collins formerly known as 'The Stig' named as third driver

Some say that he drinks Leyland High Gloss for breakfast and now Ben Collins, formerly known as ‘The Stig’, comes face to face with the leading paint brand as he gets set to race for its British Touring Car Championship-sponsored team Airwaves BMW at Brands Hatch on 9th/10th October.

In a career spanning 15 years, Collins has raced in a wide range of categories, having won races in F3, GT and more recently winning the European LeMans series in an LMP2 car at Silverstone earlier this month, he has balanced that with work as a precision and stunt driver, his recent credits including doubling for Daniel Craig in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace and Nicolas Cage in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

While he has not yet raced in the BTCC, he is familiar with the car, having track-tested a Motorbase Performance-run BMW 320si at Brands Hatch on a wintery day last November for a feature in the weekly Autosport magazine; he will next become acquainted with the car on Friday (October 1), when the team will test at Snetterton.

Bristol-based Collins (36), who will race as number 12, said: " Its fantastic news to be confirmed in the Airwaves BMW line up and I'm looking forward to my first outing in BTCC which should be an action packed finale for Britain’s premier racing series. I had a test with Motorbase Performance last year in the BMW and they are clearly a highly professional and highly motivated team which I'm really keen to work with.

Airwaves BMW team boss David Bartrum said: "We're delighted to be working with Ben again, or is it James Bond, I'm never really sure! After he had a run in one of our BMWs at Brands Hatch last year, we tried to put something together for a full season, but it didn't quite come off . . . so we're glad it has for the final round. Ben is a great driver and this is an excellent chance to see him mix it with the rest of the BTCC grid in an Airwaves BMW.

Leyland Brand Manager Nicki Hickman said: “More attention than normal is going to be placed on one of the Championship’s most colourful teams and you can rest assured that Leyland has plenty of tricks up its sleeves to help make this a weekend not to forget for BTCC fans!”

Collins joins Mat Jackson and Steven Kane in this season's most successful BMW team in the BTCC; Kane and Jackson are respectively second and fourth in the Independents Trophy - Kane is just 18 points behind Tom Onslow-Cole, with 45 on offer at Brands Hatch - with Airwaves BMW second in the Independent Teams Championship.

The finale will be televised live on ITV4 on Sunday 10th October from 10.30am to 6pm, with highlights shown on ITV1 and ITV4 the following week.