Team AON and Arena International Motorsports have announced that today will mark the start of a big winter test programme to ensure that the team are in a position to challenge the front runners come the end of the season.

I don’t think I would have been the first one to say that I was impressed and shocked at the pace which the Ford’s showed in the season finale but this is something that the team would want to carry forward and use to build upon. Ending on a high must have been a great achievement for them but they can’t just think that they have done the hard work. Who knows what the winter testing will bring for any of the other multiple race teams that participate in the BTCC.

Mike Earle, of Arena Motorsports, is hopeful that they can secure the funding to expand the team to 3-strong for 2010, a move which he would have liked to have done for 2009 but had to be put back due to the heavy development of the current two cars. He is also to have said that he has already secured a contract to keep Tom Chilton at Team AON for 2010 and has expressed interest in keeping the other Tom, Tom Onslow-Cole, on board too.

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.