Chilton upbeat after Guadix test

Date published : 05 Feb 2010 - 11:11:01

Tom Chilton believes that the Arena Ford team can hit the ground running when the British Touring Car Championship kicks off in April after a positive test at Guadix in Spain.Chilton, who completed two days of running aboard one of the team's Focus STs, said that the car, which endured a difficult maiden season of competition in 2009, is now good enough to fight for regular race wins."Some of the things we tested were designed to improve overall performance and some were aimed at improving drivability," said Chilton. "The good news is that some of the things the team did actually improved both. I would say that it was a very successful few days."We started with the car being identical to how we ran it in the final race last season at Brands to get a good baseline and then steadily worked through the development."We tried some set-up changes and a few new parts, but nothing radical. I have to say though that if I had the car as it is now at Brands [at the final round of '09], I honestly feel we could have scored its first race win, so I'm very encouraged and really looking forward to the new season."Arena will continue its winter testing programme at Valencia later this month.