Tom Chilton enjoys Spanish test

Tom Chilton has praised his Ford Focus after a two-day test at the Guadix circuit in central Spain. Weather conditions and the Focus’ handling both earned praise from Chilton, as he gears up for a season in which he’ll hope to end a ten-year win drought for the Blue Oval in the BTCC.

Anthony Reid was the last man to win a BTCC round for Ford, taking victory in race one at Oulton Park in September 2000.

“Every time we made a tweak to the chassis it just seemed to get better and better”, said Chilton to btcc.net. “The cornering is just out of this world and the Focus is the best handling touring car I’ve ever driven. Thruxton is going to be great fun and I’m really looking forward to corners like Noble, Goodwood and Church.

“What was also pleasing at Guadix was we had 100 per cent reliability. It was a really great job by all the team.”

Over the course of the two-days Chilton wracked up over 500 kilometres in the Focus, standing him and Team Aon in good stead for the coming season.

“Conditions at Guadix were just about perfect with a low-ish track temperature which was quite similar to a UK track.

“There are some great left-right twists where we could really push the car and then when you get on the straight all you see ahead of you are the mountains with snow on the top. It was a bit like being in a Playstation game.”