The ‘Home of British Motorsport’ is the destination for Motorbase Performance this weekend as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship reaches its penultimate race weekend for rounds 25, 26 & 27 at Silverstone (September 17/18).
With the Kent-based outfit way out in front at the top of the Independent Teams’ Championship with an unassailable 136 point lead, all attention now turns to the overall title honours where a strong weekend of results could ignite the squad’s challenge against the two leading manufacturer-backed teams.
Andrew Jordan currently leads the race for the Independent Drivers’ honours with team-mate Mat Jackson just 17 points behind and both are strong contenders to deliver a maiden drivers’ title for Motorbase Performance. With 4 unrivalled race wins to his name so far this season, Jackson will be looking to notch up his 30th BTCC career win in front of his home crowd on a weekend that also marks the 35-year-old’s 300th BTCC race.
“We're approaching the weekend with some confidence after another good showing at Rockingham and all efforts are now on challenging the BMWs and Hondas above us;” said Team Manager Oly Collins. “Everywhere we've been this season the rear wheel drive BMWs have been very strong and we expect no different this weekend. That being said it’s a strong grid throughout so it will be business as usual and another mega tight weekend I'm sure.”
Motorbase celebrated an incredible record-breaking weekend on the 1.64 mile long National circuit last season, securing pole in all three of the weekend’s races for the first time in the team’s history. Jackson then went on to set a new qualifying lap record, fastest lap record and outright win in the Focus ST.
Collins added; “Silverstone has been kind to us in the past but it’s also been cruel. We have to be honest and say that none of that matters now, all that matters is what happens in the final two rounds.“It’s great for an independent team the size of Motorbase to be battling all season long with the top two manufacturers of BMW and Honda as well as sitting ahead of two others in Subaru and MG. Let’s hope we're above them all come the final round at Brands Hatch;” continued Collins.“It’s also a fantastic achievement for the whole team to have mathematically secured the Independent Team's trophy with two race meetings still to go. Now we want some more trophies!”Rounds 25, 26 & 27 of the 2016 BTCC season take place at Silverstone circuit on September 17/18. Live coverage of Sunday's events will be shown on ITV4, itv.com and also in HD from 11:00 – 18:30; with itv.com featuring live streaming online of Saturday's qualifying session between 15:45 – 16:15.Driver Quotes:
#7 Driver Mat Jackson: “I can’t wait for this weekend. Silverstone is a special circuit for me and one I really enjoy. It’s my home track and we always seem to go well there so it holds a lot of good memories.
“Hopefully the ballast isn’t going to be too much of a thorn in our side this weekend and we can carry on hitting those top five finishes. That’s what we need to take this championship further. We need to be in a position where we can capitalise on all of the points available to us in the final two meetings. We’ve got to be consistent and stay out of trouble but also bag the big points if we want to stay in the title fight.”
#77 Driver Andrew Jordan:“I think we should have a strong weekend at Silverstone. The car has rolled out bang on the pace at Snetterton, Knockhill and Rockingham so we’ve not needed to reinvent the wheel heading into the weekend.
“Silverstone is challenging in its own way with the racing being so close. It’s never easy to make a gap there and I think qualifying will come down whoever gets the best slipstream. The circuit suits our chassis really well so I’m sure we’ll be right up at the front in contention and with how wide open the championship is this year, we’ll see some really good racing.”
