THE British Touring Car Championship makes its second visit to Brands Hatch this weekend for round eight of the series.

Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi are currently fightiong it out for top spot in the championship and with three races at Brands there will be plenty to fight for at the West Kingsdown circuit.

Matt Neal, currently in third place, will also know that a good weekend could haul him back into contention, while further back down the pack Bromley’s Gareth Howell will be looking to impress on his home track.

Brands was the venue for the opening round of the championship back in the spring, with Plato enjoying a double victory, while Neal claimed honours in race three.

Plato will be carrying a maximum 45kg of success ballast and he admits things won’t be as easy this time out at Brands.

“We’ll be going there with a lot of confidence but I don’t think it will be as easy of people might think,” said Plato.

“All the other teams have done a lot of development work on their cars and they’ll be a lot stronger this time around. The extra weight will really hurt us around Brands.”

Local interest will also focus on the Motorbase Performance team, who make the short trip down the A2 from their Wrotham base for the race.

Representing the team will be Matt Allison and Tom Ferrier, both driving SEAT Toledo Cupras and team boss David Bartrum is looking forward to the event.

“It’s good to be close to home because we always get great support,” he said.

“I’m really looking forward to racing at Brands and I hope we can have a really strong weekend.”

Race day admission on Sunday is £27 on the gate and under-12’s get in free. For details call 0870 950 9000.