<h1>SILVERSTONE JCW PREVIEW</H1>

Car racing rookie Jac Maybin feels his maiden MINI CHALLENGE JCW victory isn’t far away after his stunning performance during the last round at Snetterton.

Maybin heads into this weekend’s fourth round of the season at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit as one of the championship’s form men, having played a starring role in both races last time out in Norfolk.

Maybin steered his Excelr8-run JCW to a maiden podium in race one, before then missing out on a breakthrough victory by just 0.020s after just being pipped on a drag race to the finish by David Robinson.

Heading into Silverstone I definitely feel I’ve grown in confidence, and I think the weekend at Snetterton helped hugely with my mindset,” says Maybin.

It was only my third race weekend in cars, and while I expected to get on top of the car quite quickly, I didn’t expect to be coming within a few inches of a first win that quickly. It has really worked wonders for my self-belief.

I didn’t do a huge amount of testing before the season, so I knew I had a lot to learn coming into the JCWs. But each time I’ve gone out I’ve learned something new and understood that bit more about the car, and it does all come down to the confidence you have in it.”

As it’s his first season of car racing, Maybin is learning all of the tracks this year. He’s a member of the Andy Priaulx Sports Management programme, which gives him access to simulator and fitness training at the Silverstone-based iZone Driver Performance centre.

“I’ve been learning the track on the sim, and doing about two-to-three hours’ training each day – be that driving or fitness – so I feel my level of preparation is better than it ever has been,” adds Maybin.

Silverstone seems to be all about maintaining minimum speed as there’s no places where you really have to stop the car. It’s a fast and flowing track. I’ve struggled a little so far with confidence through the high-speed stuff as the JCWs don’t lack power, so I’ve been working on that and I’m feeling good.

I don’t think that first win is far away. Getting the top step at some point this year is definitely my goal. I don’t have any strict results-driven goals for the championship of where I want to finish. I’m more thinking about building on my performance each time and constantly improving, and if I’m doing that right then the results should come anyway.”