Donington Park is the host of the second weekend of the 2012 British Touring Car Championship and the AmDtuning.com team head north aiming to add more points to their Championship total.
The team holds fond memories of Donington Park – it was at the same weekend last year where the team recorded their first points finish in the BTCC with a seventh place finish in the second race.
Ollie Jackson secured a brace of points finishes on his AmDtuning.com debut last time out at Brands Hatch, having finished thirteenth and then eighth. His eighth place finish in the second race gave him Pole Position for the final race of the day after the top eight racers were reversed.
Sadly for Jackson, his race ended in the gravel at Druids having slid under braking on some oil which had been dropped on the circuit.
“We had a test at Donington Park before the season started which went well, and I’m feeling good about the weekend,” said Jackson, who heads to Donington Park two points outside of the top ten in the Championship.
“I think we showed a good level of performance at Brands Hatch even though I feel I could have done better in qualifying, and the aim is to be pushing towards the top ten again.
“I don’t feel the same amount of pressure as I did going to Brands Hatch and am more at ease with the car now I have a race meeting under my belt; I just need to be consistent throughout the weekend and make sure I qualify better so we can push on for points. The Golf showed good pace at Donington last year and having found more grip and improved the high-speed handling since then, I think we’re on for a good weekend.”
The #48 VW Golf was collected by a number of other cars in the aftermath of the oil which had been dropped by Mat Jackson. The resulting damage has given the team a busy week back at the AmDtuning.com base over the last week.
Team boss Shaun Hollamby is confident that that the Brands Hatch level of performance will be maintained at the East Midlands circuit despite the differences between the two.
“The car was more heavily damaged than we thought after the accident but it’s been on the jig and the guys at Legend Vehicle Solutions managed to turn the bodywork round quickly for us before the Easter weekend, so we’re more of less ready and raring to go for Donington,” he said.
“Brands Hatch was a good start for us and the race pace in particular was good. Ollie did a good job and without the accident in race three, I genuinely think we’d have been on for a top six finish.
“Now we have to try and more forwards from where we were at Brands Hatch and Donington is a circuit where we have gone well for the past two seasons. It’s a circuit where people say it is all about power, but you also need a car that handles well and that is one of the strengths of the Golf. Having worked on both the chassis and the engine to get more speed out of the car, which we showed at Brands Hatch, I feel top ten finishes are achievable this weekend and I have a good feeling about our chances.”