Audi Sport’s Oliver Jarvis heads to his one and only “home” German Touring Car Masters (DTM) race of the year at Brands Hatch on Sunday (4 September) aiming to kick-start what has been a frustrating season to date.Jarvis, aged 27 from Burwell near Cambridge, has been an Audi “factory” DTM driver since 2008, and lies eighth in the championship standings with three races remaining after the 98-lap race around the 1.2-mile Brands Hatch “Indy” circuit.Having posted 12th, eighth and sixth place finishes in the corresponding Brands DTM races, Jarvis this year sets his sights on a rostrum finish on “home” soil in his Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline A4 DTM.“My aim going to Brands is to fight for a podium,” confirmed Jarvis.“Brands Hatch is one of my favourite tracks and of course having the added advantage of ‘home’ support always helps.“Last year we were very quick and it would have been possible to score a podium but unfortunately I suffered damage at Turn 1 on the opening lap when I was hit by Ralf Schumacher which then hampered my race pace.” The 2011 season is a key season for Oliver Jarvis: After an extremely strong debut year in the DTM with an Audi back in 2008 and an excellent 2009 season, including two podium results in a year-old car, Oliver was unable to follow up these impressive results last season.Recruited into Abt Sportsline’s championship winning team for 2010, a fourth place was his best result of the year, but Jarvis has already scored a third place this year.Oliver continued: “The first six races have been a mixture of emotions. We simply lacked pace in the first two races and I was not comfortable with the balance of the car. Before the third race, we had a test and made a big step forward and since then, I have been consistently quick.“I scored a podium in Austria and then at Lausitzring, was one of the quickest Audi's and had it not been for our strategy not playing out totally to plan, would have again been on the podium.“At the Norisring, I was one of the fastest cars all weekend but unfortunately contact in the race put me out of points contention. In the most recent race at the Nurburgring, I was the first car to take the checkered flag on a drying track in qualifying.“While everyone else improved on their last laps, I dropped from 10th to 15th. That was disappointing. In the first and second stints of the race I had some good battles. But we started too far down the grid to achieve a top result so had to be content with 10th place.”With 18-cars in the field, half of them Audi A4 DTM models including Martin Tomczyk (D), 2006 Brands race winner Mattias Ekström (Sw) and Mike Rockenfeller (D) who have each tasted victory this season, plus 2008 and ’09 DTM champion Timo Scheider (D), who won the Brands race in 2008, on what is the shortest track in the DTM season, close competition is certain.“One thing that I can guarantee is that Brands will be a tough fight between Audi and Mercedes,” confirms Jarvis. “It has been extremely close between the two manufacturers this year and I expect Brands to be just as close, if not even closer due to the short nature of the track. It’s definitely a weekend where thousandths of a second can make all of the difference.”The seventh round of the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) is staged on Sunday 4 September at Brands Hatch, Kent. Ticket information can be found at http://ticket.motorsportvision.co.uk/calendar/2011/september/040911-dtm-bh.aspxA lap of the Brands Hatch “Indy” circuit with Oliver Jarvis . . . “As you exit Paddock you feel the car compress before heading up the hill to Druids. Paddock is especially important as a good exit is vital to have a chance of overtaking under braking going into Druids.“Druids is the main overtaking opportunity around the Indy track in a DTM car and is all about late braking. The majority of drivers use the pedestrian bridge that crosses the track as their braking point.“Through the corner the car often has some understeer before trying to get on the power as early as possible. Using all of the track on the exit, it is however important to get the car back over to the right as soon as possible in order not to compromise braking for Graham Hill Bend.“Once over to the right, you have to try and not be too greedy on the brakes because it is easy to miss the apex and compromise your exit. There is a lot of time to be picked up by carrying speed through the apex and the exit is extremely vital as a short straight follows before Surtees.“You enter Surtees flat, clipping the inside curb, but being careful not to unsettle the car. This corner often catches numerous drivers out throughout the weekend causing them to spin into the barriers on the outside of the track.“On the exit of Surtees you have to get the car as straight as possible before immediately braking for McLaren. As a driver it is easy to try and stay flat for too long on the exit of Surtees and miss your braking point for McLaren.“A good exit from McLaren is essential as it leads back onto the main start-finish straight but even a fraction too early on the power and you will quickly find yourself running out of room as the track tightens. The negative camber of the track on the exit makes this corner even more difficult but any lifting off from the throttle will cost you a lot of time. From here you will see a lot of drivers head over to the pit wall and across the finish line.”