Motorbase hope testing has ironed out Focus issues

Motorbase Performance are hoping two test sessions carried out since the disappointing season opener at Brands Hatch will improve their fortunes as the British Touring Car Championship returns to the track.

Donington Park has given the team much case for celebration in previous seasons, with Mat Jackson steering his old S2000 Focus ST to victory in both 2011 and 2012.

And ironing out reliability issues with the new Next Generation Touring Car has been the main drive ahead of the return to the Leicestershire circuit this weekend, following the problems which hit the team at the first round.

Team-mate Aron Smith also has a strong record at Donington, having won his first Renault Clio Cup race there in 2009, and Liam Griffin arrives in high spirits after his most successful BTCC weekend to date. Griffin leads the Jack Sears Trophy, for S2000 machinery, after two wins in Kent in his older Focus.

Team manager Oly Collins said: “The opening weekend at Brands didn’t exactly go to plan and we had more than our fair share of issues that needed to be resolved before the next round.

“As always, the whole team has worked tremendously hard over the short break; we’ve been out testing twice with Mat and Aron and feel confident that we’ve bottomed out the teething troubles and have improved the NGTC’s pace and reliability. Basically, we’re now where we hoped we’d be with the cars for the first round.

“This weekend will also be the first time that the NGTC Focus ST’s will have raced on the Donington circuit so there’s still a bit of the unknown, fingers crossed we can get a repeat of last season and pick up some good results!”

Jackson said: “Brands Hatch was particularly tough and not the start that we were hoping for at all. We’ve made some big improvements in the weeks since and the testing has helped iron out the reliability issues we were struggling with.”

Smith said: “After Brands Hatch we got the chance to go away to test and play with the car; something we weren’t really able to do before the opening round, mainly due to the weather. So now we’re heading to Donington with a completely different car and one that does what we want it to do.”

Griffin said: “After the relative success of Brands Hatch, it’s nice to be looking forward to going racing again this weekend, and leading the Jack Sears’ trophy certainly helps.”