Martyn Bell says he feels the Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch will be well suited to the
Croft circuit ahead of the fifth round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship in the North East this weekend.
Bell heads into the weekend looking to add to his Independents' points tally after failing to pick up points last time out at
Thruxton and is confident that the ex-works Astra will be better suited to the ex-airfield circuit near Darlington.
With a large number of fans set to make the trip from his Lincolnshire base for the weekend, Bell said he was looking to try and find extra speed from the car to move closer to the top ten and an elusive first points finish of the year.
“I'm looking forward to my second ‘home' race of the year,” he said. “I'm going to have a lot of supporters there for the weekend and hopefully we'll put on a decent show.
“If conditions are dry, I hope to be able to find more speed in myself as we know that the Astra is quick around Croft – it's a circuit that really suits the car. We've shown in the dry that we can run with the likes of Jason Hughes, Rob Collard and Harry Vaulkhard and I want to get into a position to run towards the front of that group.
“We knew Thruxton would be tough but the Astra should be stronger this weekend. We have some new ideas and I'm gelling more with the car. The key thing will be to keep out of trouble, as Croft is a circuit where it is easy to make a mistake and take a corner off the car.”
