TONY Hughes’ debut in the UK’s most popular car racing series will be broadcast live on terrestrial television by ITV.

The Knutsford driver makes his first appearance in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in front of the cameras at Brands Hatch next weekend.

“I’m calm,” he said.

“It feels like we’ve waited forever for this moment to come, but it’s exciting. I can’t wait to get out there.”

He will race a Toyota Avensis prepared by Northwich-based team Speedworks Motorsport, who are new to the championship too.

They unveiled their challenger at the BTCC’s annual media day at Silverstone on Thursday.

At the same time, ITV confirmed it will once again beam each of the series’ ten race days live on its ITV 4 channel.

Close to 140 hours of coverage is planned on both ITV 4 and ITV 4 HD.

An hour-long highlights show follows in the days after the live broadcasts too.

“The BTCC brings terrific fun, enormous entertainment and no little showbiz to our coverage,” said ITV presenter Steve Rider.

“It’s also a very serious sporting competition too.”

He revealed that Saturday qualifying sessions will be streamed live on ITV’s website throughout the course of the season too.

BTCC series director Alan Gow added: “It’s quite simple; ITV would not cover the championship if it wasn’t worth it.

“Their commitment to live broadcasts confirms the BTCC’s status as one of the UK’s top sporting attractions, providing our competitors with many millions of viewers throughout the course of the season.”