Motorbase Performance say they are not competing on a level playing field with their BTCC rivals and have called on series bosses TOCA to look into what they see as a straight line speed deficiency.

The performance of the EcoBoost engine in the team’s Ford Focus ST was one of the biggest talking points at the end of the 2015 season, with rivals claiming it had too much power.

The team had their boost levels pegged back over the winter and now believe they have been restricted too much.

Both drivers had their say on the issue in the aftermath of the weekend’s action at Oulton Park, including Andrew Jordan, whose two eighth placed finishes were the best the team managed on raceday.

“It’s hard enough to progress on this track but with so much difference between us and the Swindon engines I just feel like we’ve had to fight with one arm behind our back all weekend,” said Jordan. “Oulton is a stop start circuit so it’s just amplified the difference, but racing against them they’re pulling 3 or 4 lengths away from us coming out of Lodge and the hairpin.

“I’m happy with our performance all weekend so it’s really frustrating to not get the results to show that. All things considered I think we’ve done a good job with what we’ve had but it’s not a fair reflection on the team. I just hope it gets looked at before we get to Croft.

Mat Jackson, who managed a best finish of 10th in race two, added: “We’ve proven that the EcoBoost engine is capable of getting the results that we expect from Mountune with a different boost setting but clearly we are struggling against our competitors who appear to have more straight line speed than us.

“Maybe we need to revisit our aerodynamics to see what gains can be made there but truthfully I think that TOCA need to look into it. It’s obvious that we’re struggling to keep up in a straight line, we’re fine in the corners but of course it just means that we can’t race on a level playing field at the moment.”