Motorbase Performance heads into this weekend’s 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season finale ready to do battle, with the Kent-based squad challenging for the Overall Championship honours at its local-circuit Brands Hatch (October 1/2).
Having already claimed a maiden Independent Teams’ Title with a commanding season-long performance; the Wrotham-based outfit turns its attention to the Overall Teams’ and Drivers’ Trophies on the former F1 circuit this coming weekend.
An unprecedented eight drivers will take to the iconic 2.43 mile track in contention for the highly-coveted BTCC crown and Motorbase duo Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan are both firmly in the mix in 5th and 6th places respectively – with Jackson just 21 points adrift of championship leader Sam Tordoff. Motorbase currently lie third in the overall Teams Championship behind the manufacturer-backed Honda and BMW teams with a 33 point gap to overcome.
The contest for the Independent Drivers’ Championship will also be settled between the Motorbase team-mates on the Kent-circuit come Sunday. Jordan has a 34 point lead over Jackson but as has been the case on so many occasions this season, the unpredictability of the BTCC still means that all three Championship battles are destined to go down to the wire.
“It’s hard to believe that we are so near to the end of an amazing season for all of us at Motorbase;” commented Team Manager Oly Collins. “We go into the final weekend with both drivers in the hunt for the outright Championship. We're Independent Team's Champions, Independent Drivers Champions and have consistently fought amongst the Manufacturers all year long and beaten most of them along the way.
“It’s been a pretty good season by anyone's standards, especially for a small team like Motorbase.”
Based just a few minutes’ drive away from the Motorbase workshop, Brands Hatch is a firm favourite of the team and has been a happy hunting ground over the years - always attracting great local support. Jackson dominated the final weekend on the GP loop last season, taking two race wins, a second place finish and smashing both qualifying and race lap records in the Motorbase Focus ST.
“It’s going to be a fantastic final weekend whatever happens and we're going in with nothing to lose;” continued Collins. “Both Mat and Andrew have every chance of lifting the title on Sunday afternoon but it’s out of our hands to a certain extent. I'm pretty sure the BTCC still has some serious twists and turns left up its sleeve for the last three rounds - let’s just hope it swings in our favour in the end!”
Rounds 28, 29 and 30 of the 2016 BTCC season take place on the Brands Hatch GP circuit on October 1/2. Live coverage of Sunday's events will be shown on ITV4, itv.com and also in HD from 10:15 – 18:30; with itv.com featuring live streaming online of Saturday's qualifying session between 15:40 – 16:10.
#7 Driver Mat Jackson: “It’s great to be going into this weekend with the Championship race still so close. Being P5 in the standings means we’re carrying less ballast into qualifying and being only 10 points off second place puts us in a great place. This is the strongest position we’ve ever been in heading into the final round and it tops off a great year for Motorbase.
“It’s been an interesting year for a lot of the guys in the championship and it’s kept it very, very close at the top. With 8 drivers in contention going into the final it shows what a strong year it’s been but all the pressure is on Sam [Tordoff] to not make a mistake this weekend. We’ve just got to treat it as a normal weekend. We haven’t got any pressure on us; all we can do is go for wins and bank the points. It’s down to the others to lose it more than it is for us to win it. We need to make sure that qualifying goes to plan so we can hit the ground running in race 1 and deliver the results from there.”
#77 Driver Andrew Jordan:“I don’t feel any pressure, which is strange to say heading into a title decider for two Championships. We’ve got a good lead in the Independent Driver standings so my aim is to go to Brands to seal that and to try and secure the first drivers title for Motorbase - that would be a nice way to end my first season with the team.
“In terms of the overall title I’m just going there with the same mentality as I did at Silverstone, just try to be quick and win races and hope the other guys in front all fall over each other and I can score some big points. Realistically it’s going to take some misfortune for the other guys, but I’m in a position where I can just roll my sleeves up and get stuck in and see what gaps I can make in the championship.”
