Tom Chilton is looking forward to the resumption of the British Touring Car Championship title fight at Donington Park this weekend, after claiming that he ‘found some extra time in the car’ during a recent test at the track.
Chilton heads to the East Midlands circuit second overall in the drivers’ championship standings, having scored two podium finishes in the opening meeting of the season at Brands Hatch.
The Motorbase Performance driver feels that a recent test at the circuit could pay dividends, believing that the team has found some more pace in the Ford Focus RS.
“Donington Park is a great track,” said Chilton. “We had a really productive test there a couple of weeks back.
“We found some extra time in the car and made some great headway with the handling and the balance of the Focus. That work should hold us in good stead.”
The 34-year-old has had mixed fortunes at the circuit in recent years, only just breaking into the top ten in races two and three in 2018 and having last stood on the podium at the circuit in 2010.
Despite that, Chilton remains focussed on the long game in the BTCC, having enjoyed his best start to a season since 2006.
“We’re in a great position going into the weekend. The BTCC title fight is all about consistency and scoring points. That’s the plan for Donington, to pick up straight from where we left off at Brands.”
Motorbase Team Manager Oly Collins says that the team are in an optimistic mood for the second round of the season after the strong pace shown at Brands Hatch three weeks’ ago.
“Following on from Brands Hatch, we’re going into the Donington rounds upbeat,” said Collins. “Both Ollie [Jackson] and Tom had great pace at Brands on race day and we head into next weekend second in both team and drivers’ championship standings.
“Donington always gives a good indication of where the competition is. Brands Hatch threw up a few challenging weather conditions which mixed it up a bit. Weather permitting, we will see who has the genuine pace in their cars after the Donington weekend.
“Everyone involved in the team at Motorbase is on top of their game right now and the intention is to let the results continue to show that.”