Leading the Independents' Teams' championship after the Brands Hatch opener Airwaves Racing boss Dave Bartrum believes the pressure is off his team for this weekend's meeting at Donington Park.
Driver Mat Jackson leads the Independents' Drivers' for the team after a fourth, third and second place finish in the three races at the Kent track and is confident that the 1.96 mile Midlands track will suit the Ford Focus the team have adopted for this season.
“I'm looking forward to Donington this weekend as I think it will suit our car well,” he said, “and with the progress that we made at Brands Hatch, it looks likely that Donington could produce some great results for us. We will however be carrying 36kg of success ballast into qualifying and in race 1. This could take the edge off our performance, as Donington is renowned for being the hardest circuit on brakes on the Championship calendar, but, I guess that’s the price of success!”
With the underlying pace of the car proven by Jackson's Brands exploits he and the team are now focused on the consistency needed to maintain their championship standings.
Central to the teams' position is their second driver – Liam Griffin.
His BTCC debut got off to an uncertain start, a formation lap accident with Rob Collard knocking him out of the first race before the green flag. However, after two trouble free races to end the day the former Carrera Cup runner is happy to make light of the incident when previewing round two.
“Brands Hatch was certainly not the start I was looking for but never the less it was a great experience. Mat showed that we have a competitive car in the right hands; unfortunately those aren’t mine at the moment! The team have been fantastic and very supportive in trying to get me up to speed. I showed enough pace to realistically have a chance of a points score but I have got to get off the line better and be 100% committed from the first corner. Donington is one of my favourite circuits so let’s see what it brings, with a bit of luck I can be on Rob Collard's bumper at the end of the race and not the start!”
Airwaves' 'Little Red Devils' – as the brightly liveried Focuses have become known – will be part of the qualifying session shown live on www.itv.com at 3:25pm on Saturday. All the race day action will be broadcast on ITV4.
The Checkered Flag will cover the BTCC from Donington Park across the weekend.
