Motorbase target debut podium.

Motorbase Performance boss Dave Bartrum says he is looking for a podium finish from the opening round of the season as the team prepares to debut in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

The team will field a single Honda Integra for BTCC returnee David Pinkney - complete with his usual garish colour scheme - and with the car having been the class of the field in 2005, Bartrum said he felt the team had a great opportunity to start the season near the front.

"We've got a great chance to be up there," he said. "We're under no illusions - it's going to be very tough. The BTCC is as big as it gets in UK motor racing, but Dave has got previous BTCC experience, the Integra is a proven winner and a lot of people in the team have prepared front-running BTCC cars in the past.

"I suppose our best opportunity will be the third of the three races on the Sunday which is going to be live on ITV1. The grid is the finishing order of race two, but with the top positions reversed. If we can sneak inside the top ten in race two then we could be at the front for the start of race three. I think that's a realistic target and it's one we have to aim for."

Motorbase will find themselves going up against leading times such as Team Halfords, Vauxhall, SEAT and WSR for their first season of BTCC competition with Pinkney facing the challenge of going head-to-head with top drivers such as Matt Neal, Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi. However Bartrum insists that his team isn't just there to fill in the numbers.

"We're most definitely not here just to make up the numbers and we want to put on a good show for the local crowds," he said. "Of course we'll learn a few new tricks, but I'm confident we'll give a good account of ourselves. The plan is to expand to a two-car BTCC team for 2007 - if we achieve that, then we'll have really made it."