ONLY six races remain in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, beginning with this weekend’s visit to Silverstone where Swindon’s Handy Motorsport is quietly confident of mounting a challenge for a major haul of points and, hopefully, a return to the podium.

Despite a somewhat vexing outing at Rockingham a couple of weeks ago, with potential hampered by some in-race contact, driver Rob Austin still produced very strong pace at the wheel of his Toyota Avensis and the touring car fan-favourite delivered unsurprisingly good racecraft too.

Silverstone’s short 1.64-mile circuit always provides some of the most action-packed racing of the season and affords the Swindon team a great chance to be back near the sharp end, with all at Handy determined to make a return to the overall BTCC podium.

Additionally, the aim is for Austin to try and close down the top four in the Independents Trophy standings as Handy seeks to consolidate fourth place in the very keenly contested Independents Team Trophy.

Austin achieved the team’s maiden BTCC podium at Snetterton – as well as its first Independents Trophy class victory – when the second half of the season got under way at the end of July to fully confirm the team’s place as genuine contenders in the ranks of the UK’s biggest series.

Team boss Simon Belcher said: “We can’t wait for Silverstone. Everyone is focused on mounting a major challenge and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be competitive.

“The issues compromising our potential at Rockingham were totally out of our control, we know how much pace was in the car and in Rob.

“It didn’t go our way there but we should be back at the sharp end at Silverstone.”

Handy Motorsport will be back on track tomorrow for two practice sessions in the latest round of the BTCC before the qualifying session in the afternoon.

The race will then take place on Sunday afternoon.