Airwaves BMW are confident of a strong performance at Snetterton this weekend as the BTCC resumes following a seven week summer break.

It is a circuit that both of the team’s drivers have fond memories of. Mat Jackson took second place in the opening race there last season when he was driving a Chevrolet Lacetti for Racing Silverline, whilst Steven Kane also recorded a second place finish on his last competitive visit to the circuit with the BTCC in 2008.

A repetition of these results would be most welcome for the team who head to the Norfolk circuit leading the independent teams championship and sitting second in the overall teams championship, 34 points adrift of Honda. Encouragingly for fans of the team, both drivers seem in confident spirits.

Steven Kane said,“ I love Snetterton and I’ve spent a great deal of time there testing in Formula 2. As a race track, with the new, higher curbs it has changed a bit, but that should only encourage more exciting racing for the fans. On the straight we’ll have a tough job keeping up with the LPG powered Fords but the Airwaves BMW is a great race car so over the distance it’s anyone’s guess who’ll win. I think the car and I are capable of podiums in every race.”

Jackson added, “It’s going to be tough that’s for sure but we have a car that over a race distance is one of the quickest on the grid. In a straight line there’s not a lot we can do against some of the other cars, but through the corners and come the final few laps of each race we’ll have the advantage. A good qualifying position will make life much easier so if we can get up the front, we can win races at Snetterton.”

The optimism of the drivers is seemingly mirrored higher up the team. Manager Oliver Collins said, “ I’m looking forward to Snetterton, it marks the start of the second half of the season and it’s the time which we have to deliver some really strong results. Both drivers are capable of winning outright and that’s what we’ll be aiming for. We had a positive test here during the summer break and hopefully we can put what we learnt into qualifying and start the weekend as we mean to go on. We’ve had a long break and the whole team is just happy to go racing again.”

Coverage of the BTCC begins at 11.00am this Sunday on ITV4.

Tom Surgay is the Porsche Carrera Cup GB correspondant for 2011. Tom's currently studying English Language with Journalism at Huddersfield University. You can contact him at tom@btcccrazy.co.uk or on twitter @tsurgay.