Formula 3 Austin's career started in
British Formula Renault in 1998, where he raced until 1999. An accident put him out of racing for the 2000 season, but he returned in
British Formula 3 for
Alain Menu's team in 2001, where he raced until 2004. He also has
Japanese Formula Three experience (2003).
British GT Championship Austin entered the
British GT Championship in
2008 with a brand new
Ginetta G50 GT4 under the Rob Austin Racing banner. He drove alongside
Hunter Abbott although they missed the first event at
Oulton Park when Abbott crashed and destroyed the car. They took the first of three GT4 victories in the third race of the season at
Knockhill having taken delivery of a new car. The pair finished the season joint third in the GT4 standings after finishing on the podium at every race they finished, except for their disqualification at
Thruxton.
British Touring Car Championship In 2011, Austin took over the driving duties from
David Pinkney in the
British Touring Car Championship due to Pinkney's departure from the team after the first round. He competed in a
NGTC specification
Audi A4 for his own team. Austin qualified a career best fourth at Knockhill but retired in the first race. He took his maiden podium finish in the third race at
Rockingham, ending up second behind
James Nash. He completed the season in 16th place with one podium finish and one fastest lap. . Rob Austin Racing signed Mark Hazell to drive the team's Audi A4 for the start of the 2012 season, but Austin was the only entry for the season opener at
Brands Hatch Indy. He finished eighth in the first race of the season and finished fifth in the following two races. Hazell left the team after Brands Hatch, leaving Austin as the team's only driver for
Donington Park and Thruxton. Austin sat out the meeting at
Oulton Park while series debutant and
2009 Euroseries 3000 champion
Will Bratt was the team's sole entrant at the Cheshire venue. He returned to the car for the next race at
Croft, taking his second podium finish in race two. He was unable to find the budget to race at Knockhill, forcing him to miss the event but he returned to the car at Rockingham. He was disqualified from the third race at
Silverstone after colliding with
Daniel Welch on lap three while fighting for second place. Austin secured a title sponsor for the season finale at Brands Hatch, his car would carry a special
NASCAR inspired livery for Wix Filters. Austin confirmed his return in
2013 with the team running under the WIX Filters banner. Austin led early on in the first race of the season at Brands Hatch, he was then passed by
Jason Plato and eventually finished third behind
Andrew Jordan. He retired from the following two races, in race three he was collected by
Dave Newsham who had spun and Austin had a high speed collision with the barriers before coming to a rest in the middle of the track. He took his first pole position in the BTCC at the Knockhill round. He took his first outright win at the next event at Rockingham; he took victory in race two ahead of
Gordon Shedden. After that he only scored 11 more points for the rest of the year, finishing 11th in the standings. at
Brands Hatch during the
2014 British Touring Car Championship season. Austin returned for the
2014 season. Exocet took over title sponsorship after the departure of WIX Filters. WIX then continued their BTCC tenure with Adam Morgan and his family run team 'Ciceley Racing'. In March 2014,
Hunter Abbott signed for Rob Austin Racing to run in a second Audi A4 in the
2014 season under the
AlcoSense Racing Banner.
Other activities Austin appeared in the
Ron Howard film
Rush (2013), portraying
Brett Lunger and driving his
Surtees TS19, which is owned by his father for racing in historic events. ==Racing record==