Reigning Independent Teams’ Champions Team Aon head to Brands Hatch this weekend, for the first round of the 2011 Dunlop British Touring Car Championship. Tom Chilton and Andy Neate will be behind the wheel of the new Global Ford Focus Touring Car which will make its first race appearance this weekend at the Kent circuit.   Racing with the team once again this year will be 2010 Independent Drivers’ Champion Tom Chilton, who will be putting the new Ford Focus through its paces. The Reigate born racer, who counts Brands Hatch as his local circuit, will be aiming to add to the seven podiums and three race wins he recorded in the 2010 season. The 26 year-old already has intimate knowledge of the new Ford Focus, having spent the winter months helping the Littlehampton based Arena team put the new cars together. A new addition to Team Aon this year will be Andy Neate, who joins the team for his third season in the competitive championship. Neate has already completed several days testing with the team and has been impressed with the pace of his 2011 machine. This weekend’s event at Brands Hatch will be the first of a 10 event championship, which visits circuits such as Donington, Oulton Park and Rockingham before coming to a close at Silverstone in October. Chilton and Neate’s progress will be shown via live coverage of the BTCC events throughout the season on ITV4.     Speaking ahead of the opening round of the season, Chilton said, “I’m happy with the progress we’ve made over the winter; there’s been a lot of hard work and I think we’ll be able to show the results of that from the first event of the season this weekend.   I’m quite encouraged by the testing we’ve done in the UK. We took a slightly different approach this year; getting the car right in the factory before we took it on track which I think will produce a quicker and more reliable car out of the box. “Everyone else will have been developing cars that are already two or three years old over the winter and I think we’re one of only a few teams with a brand new car so essentially we’ve had more work to do than anyone else, but I think we’re a stronger team because of it. Brands Hatch is my local circuit and one of my favourites so I’m expecting for us to be able to deliver some really good lap times around here.” Speaking about his new car, Neate said, “I’m quite confident, having tested the car on a couple of occasions I think we’ve got a fantastic package. I know Tom will be out there challenging for the title, but my aim this season – from the first race onwards – is to be able to challenge for the podium.“This is a very different car to the one I drove last year, but as a front wheel drive car it’s much more suited to my driving style. Brands Hatch has historically been a good circuit for me over the years, so I hope that continues with a strong opening round this weekend.”    Team boss Mike Earle is also happy with the progress the team have made over the winter, “I’m optimistic, but then it’s easy to say that before the first race! I think we have a great car here, it’s been a big job as it’s brand new; in fact it’s so new that it was hard to get everything in time. But everyone involved has worked very hard and the results of that have been shown in our pre-season testing. I think we’ve demonstrated very encouraging pace, and we go to Brands Hatch this weekend cautiously optimistic.”

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