Team Aon boss Mike Earle insists New Malden ‘s Tom Onslow-Cole will still be in a competitive car when the British Touring Car Championship returns to action at Oulton Park next weekend.

Series organiser TOCA has ruled any car running on Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) fuel - such as the Aon Ford Focus STs - must now have a 37mm turbo inlet restrictor fitted to its engine.

Onslow-Cole and team-mate Tom Chilton secured race wins at Brands Hatch last time out - with the latter also qualifying on pole - before the introduction of the new rules.

But Earle reckons his team’s overall package can overcome the restrictions placed on their engines to keep the car competitive and help Onslow-Cole climb the driver’s championship table.

“Whilst any change to our engine’s specification and the resulting reduction in power will surely hurt us, I also feel that the engine is only one part of our overall package,” he said.

“We have worked incredibly hard to make all aspects of the package as strong as possible and will continue to do so.

“I said after Brands Hatch that I felt we were at about 75 per cent of the car’s potential and most of our expected gains will come from work on the chassis.

“A car is presently undergoing some suspension development at Ford’s testing facility at Lommel in Belgium and this is part of our on-going plans. I believe we will still be competitive and look forward to another strong performance at Oulton Park.”