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A View From The Driver's Seat: It's back to Donington Park for the second time in a month!

By Aiden Moffat / MJP Media | 16 April 2014

After the hectic time at Media Day where we had to launch the team, the sponsors and the car itself, it's back to Donington Park in anger this weekend.

Brands Hatch was real eye opener for me and a large number of other teams. We had to contend with a massive field, a short circuit and there was also some driving that left a little to be desired with penalties and warnings galore. I have to say that I was patient and lucky not to get involved in any of these and it was great to get a lot more seat time than we had previously had. We clearly have a strong package in the car, but we also need to look at how we get the best out of the car and how to get the car right for me.

Moving on to Donington Park this weekend it is fair to say that we learnt a lot from Brands Hatch. We have also looked at different things to match the fact that this will be a completely different weekend. First up it is a much bigger and more flowing circuit than Brands Hatch Indy was. This means that there will be more space for everybody and the chance for us to try and push on a bit. There will also be more variations in lap times across the field as it is a much longer circuit, there is more room for overtaking and crucially it may be easier to find your own space to hook up a really quick lap without running into traffic.

We are not under any illusions - this is the biggest and possibly the most competitive grid that the BTCC has seen in the last 20 years. We haven't the experience or the development time behind us to be running at the front yet, but we do have a lot in our favour. We are moving forward in a very structured way and we have clearly definable goals for each round. Part of that plan is to complete races and develop our knowledge of the car and obtain data. This will also give me more time in the car and the chance to feedback to the team those things that are good from my point of view, as well as what I have to do differently.

The team and I will be moving solidly forward in the early rounds of the year. This will enable us to really push on hard in the middle of the season and see just how competitive we can be. We could push really hard in every session from now, but if we make silly mistakes now, it will hinder our progress and we are intent on doing things properly. I want to bring success for the team and our sponsors but this does not happen overnight.

Donington Park will be the next step in our journey. We know we can improve and we will be doing our best to do just that. I am looking forward to a bigger and faster circuit where there is room for me and the car to stretch our legs. It will be great not be driving a 50 second lap comprising just 5 corners and a hairpin.

Please come over and say hello at any time and if I am free I will be happy to see you for a quick chat.

Aiden #16

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