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Ollie Jackson joins Tom Chilton in Motorbase's 2019 BTCC line-up

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By Matt James, January 10th 2019

One-time British Touring Car Championship Independents Trophy winner Tom Chilton will remain at the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus RS squad for 2019, alongside the team's new recruit Ollie Jackson.

Chilton, who returned to the BTCC for 2017 with Power Maxed Racing after a five-year sabbatical, finished third in the standings last year and won one race in the Shredded Wheat-backed Motorbase Ford.

Jackson took his first podium in the category last term at the wheel of an AmD Tuning Audi S3 during a wet-but-drying race at Brands Hatch in the second race of the season.

The team has another entrants' licence to run a third car in the series, and is in talks with drivers. An announcement is expected soon.

"I absolutely love the guys at Motorbase, they are such hard workers and I genuinely believe we can go on to take the title from where we started in our first year together," said Chilton.

"I think that people forget what it's like coming into a team for the first year.

"You have to learn not just every single thing about the car from scratch with all the little key changes, but also everyone in the team, and it's such a big learning curve in that first season."

Motorbase has a "significant" testing programme planned ahead of the coming campaign, which will allow Jackson to get up to speed with the car.

The 34-year-old raced with Motorbase in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB in 2009 and '10, and claimed the Pro-Am 1 division spoils in his second season.

Jackson said: "Having had the relationship with [team boss] David [Bartrum], I was lucky enough to test the Focus at the end of last season, and being in a more competitive car proved that I was ready to make the step up into a race winning team.

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"It was a little bit of good fortune that got me that first podium last year, but I think with the extra that everyone puts in at Motorbase, including myself, we should be pushing for more regular podiums this year and hopefully even chasing down that maiden race win."

Team boss David Bartrum said the objective for the season was to improve on 2018, when Chilton was second in the Independents Trophy standings behind championship runner-up Tom Ingram.

"As a team, we made some good steps forward last year, and Chilton showed us his character and work ethic which make him the racer he is," said Bartrum.

"He's very much a Motorbase driver and I'm looking forward to seeing just how far we can go this year. We have high hopes.

"I'm also really pleased to welcome back a Motorbase original in Jackson. He has shown in previous seasons that he is a very capable BTCC driver, and a chance [to] test at the end of last season showed us just how good he is.

"He has the experience in the BTCC needed to get results."

Confirmed 2019 BTCC line-up so far

WSR BMW 125i M Sport - Colin Turkington, Tom Oliphant, Andrew Jordan

Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla - Tom Ingram

Motorbase Performance Ford Focus RS - Tom Chilton, Ollie Jackson

Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes-Benz A-Class - Daniel Rowbottom

AmD Tuning Honda Civic Type R - Sam Tordoff, Rory Butcher

Simpson Racing Honda Civic Type R - Matt Simpson

Team Hard VW CC - Mike Bushell, Carl Boardley, Bobby Thompson, Michael Crees

Excelr8 Motorsport MG6 - Rob Smith

Trade Price Cars Audi S3 - Jake Hill

https://www.autosport.com/btcc/news/140952/jackson-joins-chilton-at-motorbase-for-2019
 
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