LOCAL driver Matt Hammond is relishing the opportunity to speed around his home circuit.

Hammond, 35, of Salisbury, is racing in the Power Maxed Mini Challenge, which comes to Wiltshire’s Castle Combe Circuit on Saturday, August 2.

After a couple of tricky races, Hammond is aiming for a podium finish on home turf.

Having suffered some car trouble recently, Hammond will be hoping there will be no hi-cups on the Chippenham circuit, he said: “At Snetterton I was on for a good few points but the car lost power and gears a few times, this meaning than I could only just about keep up with the front runners, but could not challenge for the podium positions.”

“Then at Oulton Park the gearbox was replaced and during practice I got stuck in fourth ending my testing.”

After struggling through qualifying, Hammond’s team managed to find the source of the problems, helping the Salisbury driver through the rest of the race.

Looking ahead to the Castle Combe challenge, Hammond and his team will be going over the car with a fine tooth comb making sure there are no faults.

He added: “I am really looking forward to racing on my home circuit in front of thousands of people, I can’t thank my team ExcelR8 and my sponsor RBC-Building Contractors enough for all the hard work and making this happen.”

Hammond is currently in fourth only two points behind the bronze medal position, with three races remaining.

Racing starts at 12.30pm, entry costing £15 for adults, children under 16 go free.

Keep up to date with Matt Hammond, visit www.matthammond-motorsport.co.uk