Jack Clarke is glad to be back on track when the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship returns this weekend.

It has been five long weeks since the Crabbie’s racing driver, who is run by Wrotham based Motorbase, was racing wheel to wheel at Thruxton.

Thruxton marked a step forward in performance for Jack Clarke, as he moved into the middle of the 31-car strong field.

Having not driven the Hampshire circuit since 2006, the Effingham based driver acclimatised himself to the high-speed circuit very quickly and maturely built up his pace as the weekend elapsed, with Jack and Crabbie’s Racing just missing out on adding further points to their BTCC tally.

The narrow miss has fired the 26-year-old up as he heads north to Oulton Park in Cheshire this weekend. The picturesque north-west venue kicks off the summer racing season and normally attracts in excess of 40,000 spectators’ trackside and hundreds of thousands more watching live on ITV4.

Oulton Park will be Crabbie’s Racing’s home event and the support will certainly give the distinctive Crabbie’s green Ford Focus ST an extra boost throughout the event.

The Surrey youngster considers Oulton Park as one of his favourite circuits, with fast flowing corners, tight hairpins and chicanes making it a driver’s challenge as the ribbon of tarmac undulates across the land.

Clarke has positive memories of the Cheshire venue having taken victory on his last visit back in 2008, when he raced in the Formula Palmer Audi single-seater Championship.

Talking ahead of his Oulton Park BTCC debut Jack reflected on Thruxton and looked forward to the weekend.

He said: “Thruxton is a very difficult circuit for any BTCC newcomer but I am relatively pleased with my overall performance. We struggled initially but by the third race, the car was set-up perfectly, and we were at our most competitive so far this season.

“I can’t wait to get back into the Crabbie’s Racing Focus and hit the ground running. The team [Motorbase Performance] normally go well at Oulton and I look to use their knowledge to help me get further towards the sharp end of the grid.”

“I would love to be in the points once again especially as it’s Crabbie’s home event, however I am under no illusion that it will be a tough weekend as the field is so competitive in 2014.”

“By the end of the last round at Thruxton I found further performance in the car and myself and I hope to carry this momentum to Oulton Park this weekend.”