Snetterton saw the maiden outing for the Motorbase run Redstone Racing NGTC Ford Focus in the British Touring Car Championship, with Mat Jackson at the wheel of the car.
The Henley-in-Arden driver had started off the season in the S2000 Focus and took a brace of early season victories before starting to fall away from the pace as the NGTC cars moved forwards.
“Completely different,” explained Jackson to Touring-Cars.net after the final race of the day at Snetterton. “It’s difficult to compare them as they have two different ways of making a car work.
“The NGTC car has bigger tyres but it is also heavier. We have been driving around problems that are already in there.
“We will hopefully be around the problems by Rockingham that is when we will be back on form.”
Jackson summed up his first weekend in the NGTC Focus as brilliant, as it was a test weekend for him and the team. He ended up with a trio of top ten finishes in the #4 car.
“It’s been brilliant, it’s been like a test day for us,” continued Jackson. “We haven’t been outside the top ten which is pretty special.
“The guys have worked without any sleep and without these guys; I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did today.”
The 31yr old is unsure how well he would have done if he had been in the S2000 car over the weekend instead of the NGTC Focus.
“It’s difficult to say,” explained Jackson. “Aron (Smith) in the final race was right on us, the S2000 cars just won the third race and Aron had a good run.
“Whether it’s better, I don’t know. The aim was to come and test the car. This was the first time the car had run and it had never done a race run before today.”
Jackson heads north to Knockhill in Scotland eight points off the overall drivers’ Championship top five while he is four points off second in the Independent drivers’ standings.
Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the Championship take place over the 25/26 August at Knockhill, Fife.