DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing will return to the scene of their memorable victory last year when the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season gets under way at Brands Hatch this weekend.

The team will debut their brand new Alfa Romeo at the race, which marks the culmination of months of hard work from the Swindon team as it sees the return of the Alfa brand to the BTCC for the first time in over 10 years.

First announced last August, in partnership with the Alfa Romeo Dealer Council, the team has since designed a BTCC-specification Giulietta.

Driver Rob Austin has already shown the capability of the Alfa with a timesheet topping performance during the recent pre-season Media Day test at Donington Park, and the Evesham man is glowing in his praise of what he says is the best car he has ever started a season with.

“I’m very excited to get back to racing after a long off-season," said Austin, who made history for the team last year with its maiden BTCC win.

“The boys have produced a simply stunning car, built to the highest standard I have witnessed on the BTCC grid, and its already proven it has huge potential by topping the times at Media Day, despite of only having a couple of days running prior to that.

“So, while we are going to Brands with aspirations of winning everything, as every single team and driver is, or else why would we bother, we have to be realistic. Right now we really don’t have a clue how we will fare against the competition at the weekend. The fact is our car is brand new, only three days old, and although it clearly has huge potential, it’s still very raw.

“Brands is a very different circuit to Donington and demands different things from the car to be quick. If we can’t hook it up, no matter how much potential it has, it’s not going to produce the lap times. So, we are managing our expectations until we get on track and see what our starting point is like.

“Obviously, I’m really hoping it’s enough as I would love nothing more than to start this season as we finished the last and reward the team’s incredible efforts in building this stunning new Alfa Romeo.”

DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing enters its fifth season in the BTCC this year and team principal Simon Belcher, who raced in touring cars himself in 2014 and 2015, cannot wait for the opening practice to begin.

He said: “When we announced our plans last year to bring the Alfa Romeo brand back to the BTCC it created a massive buzz, and I’m pleased to say that has continued over the winter – it’s the start of an exciting new era for us.

“It’ll be a very proud moment for me and the whole team when practice starts, seeing the first car we’ve designed and built from the ground up beginning its first race weekend.”