Airwaves Racing Team Manager Olly Collins has said his Motorbase team are aiming for wins in the second half of the British Touring Car Championship season, after more than a year without tasting the victory champagne.
The last win for an Airwaves Racing driver came in October 2012 – more than one year nine months ago, when Árón Smith scored victory at Brands Hatch.
“We have a great team at Motorbase who been busy preparing for the second half of the season, and we have one aim for the second half and that is wins,” explained Collins. “We’ve come close this year. We’ve had some good podiums and great reliability but we want to be on the top step again.”
Last year at Snetterton the team enjoyed its strongest weekend of the season, with Jackson and Smith scoring three podiums during the weekend. However Collins remains cautious about predicting similar results this season.
“Last year at Snetterton was probably our best weekend for results, but everyone has moved on since then,” added Collins. “The first half has shown just how competitive it is this year and there is plenty to play for with half the season remaining. Hopefully we can qualify well and continue with the good race pace the Focus ST has had this year.”
Lead driver Jackson believes that his Ford Focus ST will be strong at Snetterton, given the results of previous seasons. Indeed Jackson was the driver who gave Motorbase their BTCC car-builder début, when he scored three top ten results at the circuit in 2012.
“We’ve had some great results here in the past; the Focus made its debut here in 2012 which was the first time that Motorbase became a constructor and it was fantastic to be part of that,” said Jackson. “Hopefully we can add to those successes on Sunday. Points, points and more points is the plan for this weekend. We need to be consistently at the front in order to keep the championship in sight and that is what I will be pushing for as the second half of the season commences.”
47-year-old Giovanardi admits that the nature of living in Italy and racing in the UK means he is missing out on a proper summer break, as the Italian holidays have only just commenced.
“Unfortunately it’s not been much of a break for me away from the racing,” admitted Giovanardi. “In Italy the summer time will start in August when I will be back in England racing again! I have good memories from Snetterton, with lots of wins there. I remember a good battle in 2009 between me, Jackson and [Jason] Plato, where in the end Matt Neal won –you never know how the racing will end!
“For me, this weekend will be a big test. This is the first time I have driven on the new layout and I have a lot of work to do with my penalty from Croft meaning that I start at the back of the grid. I feel that the Focus will show a good performance here, and my aim is always the same – to win a race!”