AmD Tuning.com targets BTCC top ten on home soil

Ollie Jackson, AmD Tuning.com

Photo by: Pat Cranham

The AmD Tuning.com team is targeting a place inside the top ten when the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season gets underway this weekend at Brands Hatch (31 March – 1 April).

The West Thurrock-based team goes into the season opener sporting a new name and a new look for the 2012 season, with Attleborough-based driver Ollie Jackson having signed up to race its turbo-powered Volkswagen Golf for the year ahead.

Ollie, who competed for Triple Eight in the final two rounds of 2011, will be contesting his first full season in the BTCC in the VW, which has undergone a series of revisions during the winter period.

For the first time, the AmD Tuning.com team has been able to carry out extensive pre-season testing, giving Ollie the chance to gel with both team and car, while also allowing the team to work through a development programme aimed at moving the Golf up the grid.

With a series of impressive displays in the car so far, Ollie heads into his first race in AmD Tuning.com colours optimistic of fighting inside the top ten to give the team a strong start to 2012 at its home circuit.

“It’s the start of my first full season in touring cars and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work with the Golf and I’m confident in the improvements that we’ve made during pre-season testing. I’ve really got the hang of the car and I’m excited to see where we stand when we get into the race weekend at Brands Hatch.

“There are a great bunch of guys working on the car and they have done all the hard work over the winter. I’ve tried to give good feedback to them and lend my expertise as an engineer, and now we need to see how it goes on track. Our target is to be running inside the top ten and I definitely think it is achievable this weekend, but we’ll have to see where we are when the chequered flag drops.”

Team boss Shaun Hollamby is also optimistic that top ten results are achievable this weekend as the team seeks to build on the progress made over the course of 2011, with confidence high that the revisions made to the car in testing and a stronger engineering team will help produce more performance on track.

“For the last two years, we have gone into the season without any testing, so we are starting 2012 better prepared and at a higher level than in previous seasons,” he said. “Ollie has had time to get comfortable in the car and the team has had chance to get up to speed with the changes we wanted to make to improve the Golf over the winter.

“The set-up work we have done means the car is more balanced and I’m confident that the engine is going to be on a par with anything else on the grid with the new equalisation rules in place.

“The extra preparation we have done has been important for us and we have also strengthened the engineering team to give us the best possible chance of achieving our aims this season. We want to be running inside the top ten, which is a high target, but we’re confident of a good start. I’m really looking forward to the season getting underway.”

AmD Tuning.com are supported by AmDTuning.com, Beavis Morgan, Corbeau, Showtrax, LUKE, Milltek, Superpro, SFS, Airtec, Legend Vehicle Specialists, Pipercross and KW.