It took nearly everyone by surprised when the brand new NGTC Ford Focus ST was unveiled by Redstone Racing yesterday morning, but the team are eager to push on with its development after a successful ‘shakedown’.
Liam Griffin‘s absence freed up the opportunity to rush forward the car’s debut and despite the hurried conditions it was completed in, the car ran without fault for Mat Jackson in practice and qualifying.
Team Principal David Bartum was delighted with how the car, Motorbase’s first in-house project in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, performed.
He said: “First and foremost reliability was the key for us as a team this weekend and in that regard, today has been faultless.
“I’m delighted with the new performance of the new car. It performed faultlessly and didn’t miss a beat – which, considering it was only finished at 3am this morning and saw daylight for the first time when it arrived here at 6am, is pretty damn good going!”
Aron Smith has been charged with collecting points for the team while they work on the NGTC transition, and the youngster said the team were excited to enter the next stage of the car’s development.
“It looks the part, it’s so cool,” he said to theCheckeredFlag.co.uk. “I think it’ll be really, really strong and it’ll be great for us to have that so early.
“We’re going to do a lot of testing, I’ll be out in it next week, so we can get more miles in it.”
For today, focus remains on gaining an initial understanding of the car in what the team are treating as a test session.
Bartrum added: “I can’t praise the guys enough for what they’ve put in over the past seven weeks, and it’s real testament to their talent and hard work that we’ve now got a car ready to go straight to work and develop.
“I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow.”
