New Malden’s Tom Onslow-Cole hopes his calorie counting can help secure the major points haul he needs to get back in the British Touring Car Championship title race.

Tyre trouble marred the 22-year-old’s weekend at Thruxton last time out, which saw him collect just four points to leave him 13th in the driver standings.

Onslow-Cole’s Team Aon engineers have been shaving some weight off the Ford Focus ST to make it more competitive, with the former Brooklands College student also trimming a kilo off his waist line.

And the rising star, who is in his comeback season having missed out on a race seat last year, is confident the hard work will pay off to kick-start his title challenge.

“We struggled in the first weekend and the tyre problems put us on the back foot from the off,” he said.

“We’ve been trying to trim a bit of weight off the car for this week. I did a major, major diet before the season started and have dropped another kilo. Every little helps.

“The fact we didn’t get many points in the opening weekend means we need to get a good points haul to get us back in the race.

“You need to average 30 points a weekend to be in with a shot. We are obviously some way off that at the moment and need to claw some back.”

Onslow-Cole qualified sixth on the grid at Rockingham two years ago, before going on to claim two points finishes at the spectator friendly circuit.

And he is confident he can find the form this weekend that saw him once set the lap record in Northamptonshire and add to his three career race wins.

“It is not a track I particularly enjoy, but it is great for the spectators and if the weather stays nice it should be a great weekend,” he added.

“Thruxton was not ideal, but we came away with a few points and at least opened our account.

“The car will be quicker this time and I reckon we will be in good shape to get the podiums we need.”