Last year he drove a Lexus IS200. This year Adam Jones makes the switch to a SEAT Toledo Cupra, run by Paul Ridgway’s GR Asia outfit.

The Lexus that Jones drove in 2006 never looked like a racewinner, but that’s exactly he’s got with the SEAT. The ex-Tom Coronel WTCC car is the same as the one that won races at the hands of Jason Plato in 2005 and, more importantly, it is eligible for outright honours in the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Jones said, “We did what we could last year with what we had. We’re starting off in a far better situation than we did before, just with the car alone. The team are good. They’ve proven that by winning the Independents’ world championship last year, so I believe that if me and GR Asia and Paul [Ridgway] all get together, it can only be a good thing.”

It has taken time for Jones’ plans to come together ahead of the new season, but having negotiated the sponsorship minefield, he is all set to get out on the grid.

“One minute it was on in a big way, then it wasn’t, then it was. Then the sponsors are in, then they’re not. I’ve had more ups and downs over the winter than a roller coaster at Alton Towers!”

Like many drivers going into the 2007 season, Jones has very little idea what to expect from the rest of the field. However, he has nothing but enthusiasm for the spectacle that is the BTCC.

“No-one knows how competitive half the cars are going to be. I don’t think the BTCC field has been as strong as this for many years, not since the Cleland-Soper days. I always watched the series as a kid and there was plenty of action and it was always worth watching. I think that’s the way we’re heading now. With three races in one day…I keep saying to everybody, where else are you going to get that value for money? I can fall asleep during a grand prix, and I love motorsport…imagine the average guy who doesn’t care about it as much as me! This is just all-round, proper racing.”

Jones and the GR Asia team plan to contest seven out of the ten BTCC meetings this year, with the remaining three clashing with World Touring Car rounds. That’s one more meeting than Jones was part of in 2006, and it’s just one way that he’s hoping to go better than last year.

“It’s a proven car, we know it’s competitive. We just want to get near the front, get amongst it and bring some points home, and points mean prizes.”