Tony Gilham returns to the track at Oulton Park this weekend

Team HARD driver Tony Gilham is all set for a podium push at Oulton Park

Tony Gilham hopes five weeks out of the car will not prove too much of a hinderance this weekend, as the British Touring Car Series resumes at Oulton Park.

Gilham, who races for an independent team based in Dartford – Team HARD – has had to get on with the day job since his last competitive run out in Thruxton on April 29.

Meanwhile, his main rivals will have spent most of May tweaking and testing their cars to be ultra-competitive ahead of the fourth race meeting of the season.

But Bromley-born Gilham, whose team operate on approximately 10 per cent of the budget that the top teams in the Series do, is used to battling against the odds and insists he is in good shape to challenge for his second podium finish of the season.

He said: “After five weeks out of the car, you hope to be able to pick up where you left off and not lose any speed.

“I’ve raced at Oulton Park before and it’s never been the best circuit for me.

“But I’m targeting a podium place from the weekend.

“I’m looking to qualify in the top 10 and then I believe the car is good enough and quick enough to achieve a top three finish in one of the races.”

Gilham goes into the weekend 11th out of 23 drivers in the overall standings on 48 points – 36 more than he achieved throughout the whole of last season.

The ever-improving driver concedes there is a limit to what he can achieve and should he still hold a mid-table position come the final race at Brands Hatch in October Gilham will look upon his season as a success.

However, the ambitious 33-year-old believes the backing of a so-far elusive sponsor could see him make great strides in the sport.

He added: It can be quite frustrating watching the other teams make improvements, when essentially after a race we take the car apart, repair it and put it back together.

“We have a great team, mostly of volunteers, but they are people who want to be there and believe in what we are doing.

“But there is still equipment and things that we need to improve – the key is to get some sponsorship.”