Nick Halstead will hope to make steps forwards in his second season in the British Touring Car Championship after a positive start to pre-season testing in his new-look Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai.

Halstead revealed a striking new livery on his car in a special event at Donington Park last month having agreed a new major partnership deal with Razor, the company behind the Crazy Carts that he introduced to the BTCC paddock last season.

The launch event not only saw the covers come off the 'Crazy Cart XXXL' design on the Hyundai but also gave fans in attendance the chance to experience a series of Crazy Cart races involving Halstead and a number of his BTCC rivals - offering a taster for what to expect during the 2024 season.

Pre-season running kicked off at Brands Hatch where Halstead was able to lap nearly half a second quicker than he had done during the corresponding race meeting last season, despite running without hybrid in operation on his car.

Moving on to Croft, Halstead then had the opportunity to run the new-for-2024 levels of hybrid for the first time and whilst changeable conditions prevented him from setting a truly representative lap time, confidence is now high going into the final pre-season test scheduled for the annual launch event at Donington Park.

"It was fantastic to take the covers off the Crazy Cart livery at Donington Park and the reaction from the fans has been overwhelmingly positive, which is exactly what we hoped for," he said.

"Testing so far has been productive although like everyone else, the weather hasn’t been on our side, particularly at Croft where I didn’t manage to get my laps in when the circuit conditions were at their best.

"Saying that, I’ve been pleased with the pace I’ve shown and I’m feeling comfortable in the car already, so hopefully when we now head to Donington Park for the season launch test, we can get a full day of dry running to really set us up for the opening round.

"I’ve said over the winter that I felt the additional hybrid power would spice up the action. Having now had the chance to try it on track, I’m even more certain that that will be the case - and I think fans are in for a treat when the racing action kicks off!"

The final pre-season test before the 2024 season kicks off is at Donington Park on the 16th April.