Motorbase Performance confirm BTCC return at Snetterton

Motorbase Performance have confirmed they will return to the British Touring Car Championship grid at Snetterton as planned, after sitting out the first half of the season due to budget issues.

The weekend will see a debut for the Mountune-developed Ford EcoBoost engine in the team’s two Ford Focus STs, driven by regular pilot Mat Jackson and former United Autosports racer James Cole.

However, the team has yet to find a new title sponsor to replace Airwaves, which ended its association with the Kent-based squad at the end of the 2014 season.

Both Jackson and Cole will join the a large percentage of the BTCC grid in this Thursday’s official Dunlop tyre test at Snetterton, ahead of competing in the final five meetings of the season.

“We’re all really looking forward to coming back to the championship at Snetterton,” said team principal David Bartrum. “It’s been a long winter for us but we’ve been far from resting on our laurels. The development work with the new Mountune engine has gone really well and it’s exciting to be re-joining the BTCC and to see where we are compared to the rest of the grid.

“It will be an exciting challenge for Mat, James and the whole team. A lot of hard work has gone into this project and l hope we can go out there and get some decent results as a reward. Obviously we can’t win the championship in the second half of the season, but we can go out there to win races and podiums and we’re up for the challenge.

“In one respect, it’s good to be able to take a step back and watch from outside of the glass bowl, instead of being in it! Motorbase’s return will be very interesting for everyone I think.”

Both drivers have expressed their desire to get back into competitive action after the summer break.

“The car has performed well in testing so it will be interesting to see how we compare against the Hondas, VW’s and BMW’s at the Dunlop test later this week. That aside, it’s great to be finally preparing for our come back next month,” said Jackson.

“Everyone in the team has worked really hard behind the scenes to make this happen. We’re not here to make up the numbers, we’ll definitely up for the challenge and we’ll be going all out for race wins come Snetterton.”

Cole added: “We’re all really looking forward to getting back to the BTCC grid. It’s been interesting watching from the side-lines this year and some would argue that we may have learnt more than if we’d been racing, but we’ll see.

“We had a great test at Brands recently; mine and Mat’s driving style is very similar so we’ve been able to share data and set ups between us which should help us move forward quickly once we get back out on track.”

With the addition of the two Motorbase cars in Norfolk, the series is set to feature a full 32-car grid for the first time this season.