Team Aon will undertake a “huge” winter development programme to ensure its Ford Focus ST racer remains in a position to challenge for race wins from the off in 2010…

Mike Earle, whose Arena International Motorsports squad fettles the Fords, says it would be foolish to think that just because the car demonstrated front-running form in 2009’s final two rounds it will automatically do so again next season.

“We start the week after next – it’s a huge development programme we have planned out,” he told btcc.net.

“It was very pleasing to achieve what we did at Brands Hatch earlier this month. Everyone involved deserved to end the season on a high and now we know we have a car that is capable of great success next year.

“But you simply cannot believe that the others aren’t going to find something else again during the winter. Of course they are and we need to go with them.

“The likes of the BMWs and Chevrolets are raced in other touring car series and that means lots of data and development being passed on to those teams that run them in the BTCC. That is what, as a team which has gone the local homologation route, we are up against so we need to be prepared for that and have a clear direction mapped out."

The Focus has come a long way since first breaking cover just a month or so before the 2009 season, on a cold day on a deserted Silverstone Stowe circuit. Development was non-stop and, bit by bit, it all paid off.

Come mid-season there had been several outright, top ten points-scoring finishes; at Rockingham’s penultimate round driver Tom Chilton achieved a breakthrough podium result with a third place; Chilton then qualified on pole position for Brands Hatch’s season finale and twice led races until the closing stages, agonisingly missing out on what would have been the first victory for a Ford-badged car in a decade by 0.015s – the closest finish in BTCC history.

Earle added: “Our test programme will initially be spent going over the car’s suspension, front and rear, plus working on further fine-tuning the set-up. Until those last two rounds we were never quite sure how competitive we were because we were still getting the engine right. Now the engine is good, but it did show up a few deficiencies in the chassis and also how the car uses its tyre. They are only minor things but things we know we must address."

Earle is also hopeful of expanding to three STs for 2010 after the team’s heavy development in 2009 meant those plans were put on ice.

He said: “Our plan for 2009 was to enter three cars and we’d love to achieve that goal for 2010. Tom Chilton will remain on board and really deserves to – his attitude was better than I could have hoped for. He’s never whinged once, just got on with the job and showed when we deliver a good car what a great job he can do.

"We’d also love to hang on to Tom Onslow-Cole – while he didn’t get a full season with us he fitted into the team beautifully with some great results considering his lack of time in the car. And he and the other Tom like a similar car set-up which is always a bonus.”