Motorbase Performance celebrated a breakthrough British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch, a success which team manager Oly Collins said was for everyone in the team.

David Bartrum’s squad picked up the independent teams’ trophy, with Andrew Jordan pipping his team-mate Mat Jackson to independent drivers’ honours.

Both drivers had also gone into the weekend in with a chance of overall championship glory, with Jackson eventually the best placed of the Ford Focus STs in third after a dominant win in the final race.

“It’s fantastic – for it to be a team award is brilliant, because it’s for everyone in the team,” said Collins to TouringCarTimes.

“We were going for the overall championship today and it didn’t quite happen, but we finished with a win and a championship. It caps off a brilliant year for Motorbase.”

Assessing the battle between Jackson and Jordan for the independent drivers crown, Collins added: “It was really close, and it couldn’t be fairer really that it was. One of them has to win it, one of them has to finish second. They both would have wanted to win, of course.”

Collins also pointed to the step forward made by the team in 2016, after a very strong second half of 2015 following the enforced sabbatical at its outset.

Asked how much progress had been made, Collins said: “Heaps. To have two first-line drivers like Andrew and Mat has been fantastic for us as a team, and long may it continue into next year.”

Jackson eventually finished 16 points behind champion Gordon Shedden in the final standings, with Jordan 53 behind in eighth.

In the independents’ standings, Jordan took the honours with 415 points to Jackson’s 412, with closest rival Adam Morgan 44 points back in third.