Studley Team’s Stolen BTCC Car Found After Ransom Call to Its Boss

The Audi race car stolen from Studley-based British Touring Car Championship team Power Maxed Racing (PMR) has been found. In a statement on Friday 13 November, the team confirmed that the Audi S3 raced by Dexter Patterson was recovered on the evening of Thursday 12 November, a day after it was taken with the team’s trailer from ExCeL London.

The car had been used at a promotional event at the London venue and was locked inside PMR’s trailer overnight, in ExCeL’s locked compound with on-site security. The trailer and the car inside it were still taken. PMR says it will now check the car’s condition and give a further update.

A ransom call before the car turned up

Team principal Adam Weaver has told BBC Hereford & Worcester that someone FaceTimed him showing the car and asked him to bring cash in exchange for it. He says he told the caller it couldn’t happen that night. Before the caller got back in touch, police told him the car had been recovered close to ExCeL, late on Thursday night. The BBC puts the car’s value at about £350,000.

Weaver credits the news coverage and the number of people who shared the appeal on social media. The team had offered a £25,000 reward for information leading to the car’s safe return. Its statement thanks the motorsport community and the wider public for spreading the word; it doesn’t say whether the trailer was found too, or whether anyone has been arrested.

The Metropolitan Police told the BBC it doesn’t comment on individual car thefts. ExCeL London said it was aware of the theft and was working with everyone involved to investigate.

What happens next

PMR says the car will be back with the team for its Black Friday event later this month, according to a Facebook post quoted by the BBC. The team has had a strong season: it took the Independent Teams’ and Independent Drivers’ titles and the Jack Sears Trophy at the TOCA awards on 9 November, and it’s due back at ExCeL for the Motorsport Expo from 26 to 28 February 2027.

Alex Harrington

Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.