Halfords apprentice of the year joins Halfords racing Cataclean team for season

19-year-old Cameron Palmer from Ashbourne, Derbyshire, has been crowned the 2022 Halfords BTCC Apprentice of the Year competition winner. Cameron, who is a Level Three apprentice and has been based at the Wyvern Halfords Autocentre in Derby for the past six months, fought off competition from apprentices all over the country to come out on top.

As this year’s champion, he is now looking forward to joining the Halfords Racing with Cataclean team for a full season, as they compete in the 2022 British Touring Car Championship.

The competition involved a practical assessment and a tough interview, designed to evaluate the entrants’ skills, knowledge and dedication. Cameron was able to successfully identify faults in car parts to see whether they could be reused in a race scenario, before impressing a panel of judges.

As part of his Level Three apprenticeship, Cameron is developing his knowledge on hybrid and electric cars and will be putting this training into practice in the British Touring Car Championships.

He will be switching from working on road cars to a fully-fledged 350 BHP British Touring Car, which this year also features hybrid electric power.

Cameron grew up in a household of petrolheads, with his dad being the driving force behind his interest in cars. His ability to figure out problems and find solutions is at the heart of his skill as a mechanic, as is the necessary patience to work through complex problems.

Cameron, who previously completed a Level Two Motor Maintenance course at Derby College, said that he was thrilled to have won the competition, and had enjoyed experiencing the high-performance instruments and vehicles on the assessment day. He recommended the apprenticeship programme to anyone considering applying.

“The Halfords apprenticeship is a great start in the industry,” he said. “I’m learning through hands-on work and can’t wait to work on high performance touring cars. Winning the competition is a huge career opportunity, and I hope it will help me climb the ladder in this exciting industry and one day go into motorsports.”

Cameron’s Level Three programme covers many of the skills he will need to fulfil his ambition, such as outline health and safety, industry standards and regulations.

Josh Hall, who won the Halfords BTCC apprentice competition in 2019, has recently started a role as a race car mechanic for Team Dynamics. The 23-year-old former Halfords Autocentres apprentice from Hartlepool began work at the Team Dynamics Headquarters in Droitwich in January 2022 and will be supporting the team to keep one of the three Halfords Racing with Cataclean cars maintained and race-ready this season.

Andy Randall, Halfords Group Chief Operating Officer said: “I want to congratulate Cameron on this well-deserved win. Cameron is a hardworking, dedicated and enthusiastic member of the team, and we consider ourselves very lucky to be supporting his first steps into the industry. Our apprenticeship scheme develops the expert technicians who are at the heart of our business. Through our partnership with Team Dynamics, we provide Halfords apprentices with a superb opportunity to work in a thrilling motorsport environment.”

Alyn James, Team Manager for Teams Dynamics Motorsport said: “This is our sixth season of running the Apprentice of the Year competition with Halfords and each year the quality of the candidates put forward just gets better and better. We hope that being in a high-pressure race team environment the winner of the competition each year goes back into the business as a more rounded individual who can cope under stress and ultimately goes on to be an even greater asset to the business.  We look forward to Cameron joining us in just over a months’ time when we first go racing.”