Motorbase cautious of rear-wheel drive pace heading to Rockingham

Motorbase Performance head to a previous happy hunting ground this weekend, the Rockingham Motor Speedway circuit near Corby, but the Ford squad admit it’ll be difficult to fight with the championship leading rear-wheel drive cars over the race distance.

The team, which are now more focussed on the independents’ titles, with BMW, Subaru and Honda dominating the overall standings, with the team ten points behind Speedworks Motorsport in the independent teams’ championship, and with Mat Jackson 47 behind Speedworks’ Tom Ingram in the indie drivers’ race.

“Rockingham is notoriously hard on tyres;” said team manager Oly Collins. “That will play a big part in this weekend’s results, as everyone tries to get the best out of the tyres whilst lasting the full race distance.

“It may help the rear-wheel drive cars over a race distance. It depends who manages it best. The track has a good mixture of high and low speed corners and despite the long straight and high speed turn 1, it’s the infield that you need to concentrate on for the lap time.”

Mat Jackson aims to reproduce the pace from Knockhill, which was a very mixed weekend for the team, at the circuit where he last won in 2015.

“The way the championship is moving this season means that we’re learning all the time,” said Jackson. “Hopefully this weekend we’ll get the chance to capitalise on what we learnt at Knockhill and convert that into podium.

“We’ve had some great wins and podiums at Rockingham and we’re in good shape. The pace is in the car, it was just unfortunate circumstances that cost us our weekend at Knockhill. We just need to get the rub of the green at Rockingham and pick up the results that reflect the performance of the team and car.”

Jackson’s team-mates will again be Martin Depper and Rory Butcher, the latter in his second race in the BTCC, but at a circuit which he is slightly less familiar with.

“I’m really excited to build on my experiences from my debut at Knockhill,” said Butcher. “I learned so much in that weekend with so many different scenarios cropping up. We are now tailoring the car’s set-up to suit my driver style so that’s a nice feeling.

“I’m still at the start of my BTCC learning curve so I have to be realistic, however more top tens would be fantastic. One thing is for sure, I’ll be giving everything on and off the track.

“Rockingham is unlike any other track in the UK with its banked oval, anti-clockwise configuration and extremely abrasive surface, which makes it such a challenge. I’ve had good success at Rockingham in the past with Porsche Carrera Cup victories, but I’ve haven’t driven the track in over two years.”