Mike Bushell impressed on his test with Wrotham based Motorbase at Snetterton 300 circuit on Wednesday.

Running the Airwaves Racing car it was a prize awarded to Bushell when he won this seasons Courier Connections Renault UK Clio Cup title.

Provided by tyre giant Dunlop, the official supplier to the BTCC and the Renault UK Clio Cup, the test enabled Bushell to not only get behind the wheel of an NGTC Ford Focus for the first time, it also afforded him the chance to experience Dunlop’s ‘soft’ BTCC tyres.

With coaching from series front-runner and Airwaves Racings drive Mat Jackson, Bushell enjoyed a couple of installation runs in dry conditions at the Norfolk track before going on to complete a full race distance on the soft rubber.

Working closely with the engineers from Motorbase Performance, the recently crowned Renault UK Clio Cup Champion was thrilled with the experience which has, unsurprisingly, only heightened his desire to be on the touring car grid in 2015

Speaking after the rest sessions, Mike said: “The BTCC car is definitely a different beast to the Clio. It’s a lot heavier, there’s a lot more grip and obviously more power. I found the limit a few times, mowed the lawn, but it was an amazing experience – it’s been like Christmas come early.

“I was very surprised by the soft tyres and it was a good opportunity to test them. I was amazed at how quickly they drop off, when I felt the grip max-up I took a little bit too much out of them. I’ve got aspirations to be in the BTCC next year and this prize was almost like a first test for that. Big thanks to Dunlop, the guys at Airwaves and Renault UK for such an amazing opportunity.”

Reflecting on Bushell’s performance, Airwaves Racing team manager Olly Collins said: “We did a couple of short runs, which were more familiarisation than anything, and then Mike had his race run on the soft tyre which was quite a challenging thing to do. After the warm-up procedure he then had to manage the tyre and did a good job.

“Running on softs was probably the most challenging thing Mike could have done really, he set a good time early on and had a very good approach with good feedback. Obviously, he is looking at progressing into touring cars sooner rather than later and so the experience was very valuable for him. Mike was good to work with and he did seem to enjoy himself!”

Images provided by Jakob Ebery