Martyn Bell is hopeful of ending his first season in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on a high at Silverstone after the Geoff Steel Racing team found a problem that has been holding back the lone BMW on the grid.

Bell has enjoyed some strong displays with the ex-WTCC car in his debut season in touring cars, but has struggled at times to get the power down with the rear wheel drive machine.

However the problem has now been traced to the ex-Andy Priaulx suspension on the car, with the current World Champion using a set-up that allows for only minimal changes to be made to the damper settings.

“After Brands Hatch we found a fundamental problem with the car,” he explained. “It hasn't handled well in the corners all season and the reason we have found for that is that the operating window with the suspension is much smaller than it should be.

“That is the way that Andy likes his suspension to be, and it worked for him as he is the World Champion, but it doesn't suit our circuits and it doesn't suit me. It might be that we aren't a million miles away from the suspension being where it needs to be, but if we are unable to make the slight change that needs to be made, then we might as well be.

“Moton are now sorting the suspension out so that we will have a proper operating window to work within. I'm a bit angry that we haven't known this is the case until now, but it is one of those things and isn't the fault of anyone in my team.”

With the suspension issue now hopefully resolved, Bell will look to end the season on a high, before the start of an intensive testing programme through the winter in preparation for 2007.

“Now we have the suspension problem fixed, we can focus on ending the season on a high,” he said. “We'll have to use the first practice session as a bit of test, but if you look at the speed-traps at Brands Hatch, the BMW is one of the fastest cars on the grid and with the long straights at Silverstone, we can certainly have a go.

“People always remember the first race of the season and the last race, so we want to go out and show everyone what we can do. I'm hoping for a big improvement.”