Derek Warwick has ended his long and successful association with the British Touring Car Championship.

The ex-Formula 1 driver from Hampshire has sold his shareholding in the Triple Eight Race Engineering team who ran the Vauxhall cars in the BTCC. Last year the team swept the honours board, winning the drivers', manufacturers' and team titles.

Warwick's decision to stand down as a co director and team manager of Triple Eight ends a remarkable 35-year career in motor sport spanning stock cars, single-seater racing cars, Formula One, World Sportscars and Touring Cars.

"I want to spend more time with my family," said Warwick. "For as long as I can remember my weekends have been taken up by motor sport. Now it's time to do other things."

Warwick has lived in Jersey with his wife Rhonda and their two daughters since his Formula One career took off in the early 1980s when he joined Renault, then one of the big teams of the day.

An ex-British Formula 3 champion, he finished second twice in F1, including the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, but never achieved his ambition of a Grand Prix win. Warwick found sports cars more rewarding, winning the Le Mans 24-hour race on his way to the world title.

When he switched to Touring Cars, he was a race winner there too before moving on to the management side of the sport with the Banbury based Triple Eight Race Engineering when they landed the contract with Vauxhall Motorsport.

Warwick and his business partner Roland Dane have sold their shareholding in Triple Eight to their long-term partner Ian Harrison.

TOCA Tour Series Director Richard West said: "I would like to thank Derek and Roland for the immense contribution they have made to the BTCC over so many years.."

Mike Earle, boss of Arena Motorsport ,who will spearhead Honda's re-entry into the championship, said: "It is sad they have decided to leave the championship. Both have been hugely instrumental in the bright future the series now looks forward to."

Warwick and Dane will continue to act as consultants to Triple Eight.

His decision to stand down will also enable Warwick to devote more time to his ever expanding Honda dealerships in Jersey, Hampshire and Dorset.