Aiello keen to make a mark

But for the team's new kid on the block, Laurent Aiello, the first meeting of the 1999 season at Donington Park proved to be a character-building introduction to the rough and tumble of British touring cars. The twenty nine-year-old Frenchman, making his BTCC debut for the Vodafone Nissan team, missed out on the points.

But he is now looking forward to the rest of the season with a steely determination to make his mark in the championship, acknowledged to be the most competitive of its kind in the world.

The Parisian has an impressive motor-racing pedigree. In 1994 he won the French touring car title and repeated the triumph in the German Championships in 1997. Keen to add to this success, he said, 'I am looking forward to this weekend's meeting at Silverstone. Pre-season testing has gone very well. I am really enthusiastic about the season ahead.'

In contrast, fellow Vodafone Nissan driver David Leslie is an experienced BTCC hand. At Donington, where the 45-year-old Scot already holds the lap record at 1.11.08, he recorded the fastest lap in the Sprint, 1:11.345, 158.94kph (98.763mph) to gain a typically hard-fought fourth place.

Now in his third season with Nissan, he is impressed with the changes made to the car during the winter months by the Ray Mallock engineering team.

'The new suspension system is impressive, improving the car's stability and work carried out on the aerodynamics has improved our lap times,' he explained.