David Leslie is returning to the British Touring Car Championship to spearhead the attack of Team Petronas Syntium Proton (Team PSP). The experienced Scot will race one of two Team PSP Impians in 2002, the Malaysian manufacturer’s debut season in Britain’s premier series.

The driver of the second car is yet to be confirmed, however this announcement would seem to end speculation that reigning BTCC champion, Jason Plato, will find a drive with the Proton team in 2002, as suggestions are that Leslie will be the focus of the team's development work with the car. Another name that has been put forward as a 'possible' for the second drive is that of South African Touring Car Driver, Deon Joubert. Joubert has just completed his third year of competition with Team Petronas in South Africa.

Leslie last competed in the BTCC full time in 1999 when he achieved second place in the championship driving for the works Nissan squad. He commented, "This is a fantastic opportunity, It’s great to be back in the BTCC full time, but even better to be able to join a project from the start. By doing that you have a good chance of making it work as you know what pitfalls to avoid along the way. It was about this time of year that I joined the Nissan project when that first came to Britain – and look what happened there!"

Team boss David Wong is equally as enthused about his new signing "David is an ideal choice for us as a new team in the BTCC. He is one of the most experienced touring car drivers in Britain and knows what is needed to win races. And his engineering knowledge as a driver will be invaluable to the programme. We are very excited and pleased that he has agreed to join us."

The 48-year-old last competed in the BTCC in 2000, in a one-off meeting for Honda at Thruxton. He also raced that year in the European Touring Car Championship, again with Honda, and this season drove in the Speedvision World Challenge in America.

The design and build of the BTCC Impian has been underway since July at the Norfolk base of Puresports Engineering Limited (PSE), run by Ian Doble who will also head up the race team. Engine tuner Mountune is developing the car’s two-litre powerplants.

Wong adds: "There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the team and its driver line-up. Now David has joined us, we can get on and start preparing for the new season, which we are all very much looking forward to."

Team Petronas website: www.teampetronas.com