Motorbase team to return to BTCC action with Brands Hatch test

The race-winning team announced in March that funding issues, linked to the late breakdown in a couple of key sponsorship deals, meant it would be on the sidelines until Snetterton in August.

Regular driver Mat Jackson and new signing James Cole will both run at the two-car test at Brands Hatch, the first time the team has run both cars with their new Mountune-prepared Ford EcoBoost engines.

Team boss David Bartrum told AUTOSPORT it was a signal of intent ahead of the team's planned return.

"If we weren't coming we wouldn't be still spending," he said.

"We've been testing quite a lot at Ford, very quietly, on the test track there. We still mean it.

"The frustrating thing for me is that we've got probably the best car we've ever had and the EcoBoost is definitely an improvement on the Duratec.

"Next Friday's test is quite important. It's full-on to find out where we are.

"We'll see what comes from that. [The BTCC's] a very important paddock to be in, it's the right place to be."

Motorbase has won 12 races since joining the series in 2006, and it has retained its two TOCA BTCC Licences despite missing the opening rounds.

Bartrum said its return for Snetterton was not yet set in stone but he is hopeful Friday's test would help it clinch deals with prospective partners.

"Hopefully we're going to be there," he added. "We still need to get elements in place.

"This is what this test is about next week. From that we'll know more about where we are."

"It was a hard thing to not be and a hard business decision to make. But we have to have a partner to go and do touring cars.

"We have to be working with a brand to show our worth and not just go around in circles for the hell of it."