SWINDON’S Handy Motorsport say they will leave no stone unturned in its quest to produce a race winning car for Rob Austin in this season’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Plans to become a two-car squad, having secured the use of an additional TBL [TOCA BTCC Licence], progressed well in recent weeks but team principal Simon Belcher has now confirmed any expansion is being put on a back burner until 2017.

Extended talks with drivers regarding the team’s potential second seat didn’t result in a deal being struck in time.

“After a lot of thought, and many discussions, we have decided to run just one car in the BTCC again this year to concentrate all of our efforts on Rob and on pushing for podiums and, hopefully, race wins,” said Belcher.

“We need to focus on our ‘A game’ to become front-runners, that’s the reason we signed Rob.

“It would have been great to get a second car on the grid.

“But we still have a lot going on behind the scenes which will hopefully mean we’ll expand as planned in 2017 after proving ourselves as front-runners this season.

“Having two cars this year and just making up the numbers isn’t for us.

“We are here to try and win so one car makes sense, especially as we share data with the Speedworks [Motorsport] car Tom Ingram will be driving.”

Initial testing of Austin’s brand new Toyota Avensis will take place in Portimao, Portugal, next week as part of a three-day outing which commences on Friday, February 26.