Chevrolet are hopeful of a more competitive showing this weekend when the British Touring Car Championship heads to Oulton Park for rounds 10, 11 and 12.

The team have endured a difficult start to 2011 due to the disparity between their car which is powered by a normally aspirated S2000 spec engine and the cars of teams which have chosen to run the newer turbocharged NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) spec engine.

However championship organisers TOCA have made changes ahead of the meeting at Oulton Park to level the playing field. These changes include reducing the minimum weight for all S2000 normally aspirated front wheel drive cars by 25kgs to 1145kgs as well as a suspended reduction of the boost limit of the turbo engines.

Unsurprisingly Chevrolet are keen to capitalise on the reduction in weight. Lead driver and defending champion Jason Plato, who currently trails championship leader Matt Neal by 27 points stressed that a good qualifying performance will be the key to a strong weekend.

He said: “The Silverline Chevrolet Cruze has the perfect chassis for the demanding, undulating Cheshire circuit.  Key to success this weekend is qualifying; with TOCA’s acknowledgement the performance equalisation between turbo and non-turbo engines hasn’t been correct for the first 9 races of this season the regulation changes should help improve our qualifying performance relative to the turbo cars. One thing is for sure I should be able to challenge for pole Position as I’m not carrying success ballast and TOCA has given us a 25kg weight break. My Cruze will be 70kgs lighter than Matt Neal’s car in qualifying so it will be interesting to see how things pan out at the weekend.”

Team-mate Alex MacDowall is equally as fired up ahead of Oulton and is firmly targeting the podium. He said: “The break has given me time to reflect on the season so far, but now I just can’t wait to get back on track. I enjoy the challenges this circuit has to offer, it’s very technical with some unforgiving blind corners mixed in with fast straights so setup is crucial and a strong grid position is key. I won here in the Clio Cup in 2009 from pole and finished 2nd in race two. Last year
I qualified well in 4th and took two points-scoring finishes so I am certainly aiming to build on this and challenge for the podium.”

Qualifying will take place at 15: 15 on Saturday and will be streamed live on ITV’s website. All three races will be broadcast live on 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.