Andy Neate will drive a Ford Focus for Team Aon in this year’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. The 36 year old from Aylesbury will partner Tom Chilton at the reigning independents teams’ champions.

Speaking to btcccrazy he said: “It’s a great achievement to link up with a fantastic team such as Ford and Aon.”

Neate, who drove a BMW for WSR last season, knew that he needed a change of scenery for this campaign. He said: “Early on in the series I identified that that car really wasn’t for me so I looked up and down the pitlane and thought right who can I start talking to. So I started talking to these boys (Aon) really early on because I knew they’d be a queue at the end of the season for the drive. Luckily I got my name in the hat first and here we are today.”

 Neate hopes to improve on what was a difficult campaign in 2010 and wants to feature at the front of the field this year. He said: “Podiums have to be a realistic expectation. Tom (Chilton) is quite clearly going to be going for the championship and although I’d like to say I am, we’ve got to be realistic, it’s my second year in the championship and a new car.”

Speaking about how he had found driving the Ford, Neate said: “It’s fantastic to drive. The team have done a mega job. We should be competitive this season.”

Neate took part in the championship’s media and test day at Silverstone today (Thursday 24^th March) and will debut for the team in the opening round of the season at Brands Hatch on the 2^nd and 3^rd April.

Photo credit: Pete Mainey (http://www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

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.