Rob Collard: My season starts this weekend

Rob Collard says he is taking the approach that his season will start at Donington Park as he looks to kickstart his BTCC campaign in the second round of the year.

The West Surrey Racing driver endured a nightmare weekend at Brands Hatch, with a 15th place finish in race one being followed by incidents in races one and two that left him with just a single point to his name.

Already 39 points down on early season leader Tom Ingram, Collard will now seek top put some strong points on the board at a circuit where he has won twice in the past.

Given his championship position, Collard will go into the weekend without any additional success ballast onboard and said he was eager to try and make a ‘big jump’ up the standings.

“I’m treating Donington as the start of my season,” he said. “I’ve had some great results there in the past, including my first BTCC podium, a second-place finish last year and two wins.

“We’ve certainly been able to show the BMW’s speed there over the past couple of seasons to a greater level than before, which shows the top job the team’s doing.

“I’m not carrying any success ballast into the weekend so that will help as I aim to make a big jump up the championship table.”