The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship gets underway this weekend at Brands Hatch and local team Motorbase Performance are ready to get the season underway.

With the iconic Indy circuit once again playing host to the opening round of what could be the best and most competitive BTCC season yet. Motorbase duo Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan will be hoping to hit the front from the first round of the season.

Jackson was the man to beat last time out with the 35-year-old claiming pole and two race wins in the Focus on the GP loop during the 2015 season closer. Jordan also has an excellent record on the short Indy layout where he last took pole position and two race wins back in 2014. With a record 32-car grid set to descend on the Kent circuit for the 2016 season opener, competition will be higher than ever.

In addition to the driver line-up changes; the Motorbase Performance squad has been hard at work over the winter months rebuilding and developing the Focus ST which joins many of the front-running teams this year running the new RML suspension kit upgrade. Alongside improvements in other areas of the car, the team is confident that the Focus ST will be challenging at the front of the pack once more.

Speaking ahead of his debut with Motorbase in the BTCC, Jordan said: “Obviously I am very excited to get back to the racing at Brands and to kick off my new season and relationship with Motorbase. We have done a lot of testing together and I feel we have clicked really well but the serious stuff starts this weekend.

“It would be my dream to get pole and a win this weekend but I know how tough that will be. I’ve managed to get pole at Brands Indy a couple of times before so I have good confidence heading there. I’m also really interested to see how it will pan out with most teams moving to the new RML suspension kit as it’s a bit like starting from scratch with car set up.

“The aim this year is to win the title so I need to make sure I have three strong results to kick the year off well and hopefully gain some momentum. It’s always a fine balancing act of being consistent, staying out of trouble whilst going on maximum attack for wins and podiums.”
The opening three rounds of the 2016 season take place on the 1.2 mile Indy circuit at Brands Hatch on April 2/3. Live coverage of Sunday’s events will be shown on ITV4, itv.com and also in HD from 10.15am – 6pm, with itv.com featuring live streaming online of Saturday’s qualifying session between 3.40 and 4.10pm.

Images courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk