Tom Chilton targets first Motorbase victory

Tom Chilton says he is eager to push for his first victory in Motorbase colours when the BTCC season resumes this weekend at Snetterton.

Chilton heads into the meeting as one of the form drivers in the series having taken three podium finishes across the six races at Oulton Park and Croft, and was on the pace throughout the two-day Snetterton test at the wheel of his Ford Focus RS.

It leaves the former World Touring Car Championship racer feeling confident about his chances on a big weekend for the series with the special Diamond Double race taking place – offering double points across the board.

“I’m very excited about Snetterton this weekend,” he said. “We have a very strong car. We completed around 1,000km at the Dunlop test and collected a huge amount of data. We already had a great race car, but I think we have an even better car now heading into the double points race.

“The extra 15-minute qualifying session will be interesting to see how all of the cars compare against each other without the ballast on-board.

“I would love to get a win this weekend, it would be awesome. The ideal scenario would be to get a win in race 2 and then still be free of the weight for the final double point race.”

Team manager Oly Collins meanwhile said he was interested to see how the Diamond Double race panned out and expressed confidence in a strong weekend for both Chilton and team-mate James Cole.

“After a great two day test with Dunlop, we’re as prepared as we can be going into this weekend,” he said. “Both James and Tom covered a huge amount of miles in those two days, and we had a great chance to test some development parts prior to the start of the second half of the season.

“We managed to work on both qualifying and race runs and definitely feel that we made some moves forward with the RS; which we need to remember is still a new car to us all this season.

“We now head into the second half and this weekend at Snetterton confident of claiming more podiums and even more success on track. Like everyone else, we’re well aware of the importance of the Diamond Double race with double points available.

“It will certainly keep things interesting in the championship, and could well have a huge impact on deciding this year’s champions.”