The MTAQ Hyundai hit the track for the first time on Sunday at Lakeside raceway for a test session!

The day was productive, and the car was quite good with no major problems at all – a great endorsement for all the hard work that has gone in. Unfortunately the day was cut short with a few little teething issues, but was enough to give me a good feel for the car.

Fundamentally the car does all the right things which is very pleasing. It sounds crisp and strong and is very comfortable to drive, so all that points to it being a very good car.

We will make a few changes to improve it, and with these changes I hope that this makes it very competitive next weekend.

The racing this coming weekend is going to be highly competitive, with both last year’s champion and runner up both fronting, and some other new cars with good drivers on board will make our debut very tough. Rain forecast for Saturday throws in another variable. I am looking forward to the challenge, and we will use the Friday practice sessions as best we can to tune the car to the circuit and conditions.

The debut of the MTAQ Racing Team in the series is highly anticipated and our competitors are certainly expecting us to be in the hunt.

The trick for this weekend is every race counts for Championship points, and the format is “progressive grid” meaning you start the race the way you finish the preceding race (race 1 starts in qualifying order). So if you come off the road or have a drama in race 1 or 2, then you start the next race at the back, which isn’t ideal. At this early stage, we need to accumulate as many points as possible.

So the mantra for this weekend will be try and stay out of drama and work our way forwards. The ultimate dream would be to get Pole position for race 1 and bolt off into the distance – but with a new car against well sorted, experienced opposition this may be a big ask – but we will give it a good go!

I will provide a pre-race update and will update over the course of the weekend. Hopefully lots of good news!