Weaver confident new-look Power Maxed can shine

Team boss Adam Weaver say he feels confident that his new look Power Maxed Racing line-up will be able to shine when the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season kicks off this weekend at Brands Hatch.

The Chevrolet team sports an all new driver line-up for 2016 after Dave Newsham switched to the British Rallycross Championship and Josh Cook inked a deal to move to MG – with Hunter Abbott and Kelvin Fletcher coming in in their place.

The pair head into the opening meeting of the new campaign with only limited running under their belts, with Abbott managing just 20 laps of testing after issues on Media Day were followed by an off the next day at Snetterton and Fletcher only set to sample his car in earnest for the first time when Free Practice kicks off in Kent.

Despite that, Weaver insisted his drivers are capable of getting the job done as the team embarks on its second season in the series, even though he admits no goals have yet been set.

“Obviously I’d have loved to keep Dave and Josh after last year, and it was a bit frustrating at times to see people online saying things like ‘You must be stupid for not signing them up’, but unfortunately it isn’t that easy,” he said. “There are a lot of things that need to fall into place when you are negotiating with drivers and doing a deal isn’t as easy as it may appear from the outside.

“When it became clear that we’d not be able to retain the two drivers we had last year, we looked at the options that were available and I’m very pleased with the line-up we have. With the car that we have and with the team we have, I feel sure that we can give both Hunter and Kelvin the chance to shine.

“They both face challenges in making the move to front wheel drive, but at the end of the day, a car has four wheels whether it is driven by the front or rear wheels and I’m sure both of them will come to terms with the switch quickly.

“It would be good for Kelvin if he could be in the mix for the Jack Sears Trophy and with Hunter, I’d hope he can beat the results he’s had in the previous two seasons. We’ll do our best as a team, as I’m sure they will as drivers, so we’ll have to see what happens in the early rounds before we set any definitive goals.”

Power Maxed was the first team to run the new RML parts during the winter but with rival outfits having since completed more mileage, Weaver admitted that any potential advantage had probably now been negated.

“We have done a few tests with the RML parts, including one with Andrew Jordan at the wheel, but I think the fact we have two new drivers who are racing front-wheel drive for the first time will negate any advantage we may have had,” he said. “However, I’d like to think we’ll start the year on a level playing field with everyone else and at the end of the day, our car was built by RML and the CAD design on the new parts was based around the Cruze, so if ever there was a car where the parts should work at their optimum it should be ours.

“There is no getting away from the fact that the BTCC is a very difficult championship to be involved with. The competition was tough last year and many of the people who made it tough are here again so we know there is a large challenge ahead. You hear things on the grapevine about issues other people are having but only when we get to Brands Hatch will we see how it really stands.”