The second round of the British Touring Car Championship takes place at the historic Brands Hatch circuit this weekend and Team Honda driver Tom Chilton is keen to put on a strong showing at his home track.

Tom has a good record at Brands Hatch, having become the youngest ever driver to step on a touring car podium when he took third place there during the 2002 season. The Indy circuit configuration, which will be used this weekend, is the shortest on the calendar but is one of the most challenging for the drivers to get to grips with.

"Brands has been a good track for me," says Tom. "I think it’s probably my favourite circuit. It’s a difficult track because it’s so up and down. It’s really easy to lock a brake and lose a lot of time especial through Graham Hill and the run into Surtees.  The car is always searching for grip and its really easy to make a mistake if you overdrive the car. The key to a quick lap is to be as smooth as possible"

Tom’s Honda Civic Type-R set the pace in pre-season testing at Brands, and he goes into this weekend light on success ballast following his 10th place finish at Thruxton. This should mean he’s right in the hunt for pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session.

"I’ve learnt a lot from Thruxton," he says. "This weekend I’m going to hold back and let the car do the work. The races are 24 laps long and that will really suit us because of how we work the tyres and the more laps I do the more consist I seem to get. I’m really hopeful of coming away with a podium finish this weekend."

All three races from Brands Hatch on April 25 can be seen live on Sky digital on the Motors TV channel. Highlights of the races will be shown on ITV’s Speed Sunday programme on May 2.

Click here for the Tom Chilton web site - designed and built by Racecar