MG Racing’s Ashley Sutton secured his second ever pole position in the BTCC here at Silverstone.
With the top 22 cars separated by around a second it was an extremely tight session with several drivers falling foul of track limits rules and losing laps.
There was no such trouble for Sutton, who set his best lap on only his fourth time round in the session and from then on he was never headed.
Sutton admitted it hadn’t been expected this weekend;
“We came here with no expectations and we got pole! The pole at the start of the year was fantastic but it came by surprise in the conditions. I suppose I have more pressure on me now and we really had to work for it. To have Josh (Cook) up there is great. A front row lockout would have been better but it’s good to have him there and hopefully we can link arms and work together. Our rivals went back out but most of them got caught in traffic after the red flag. We had another run in our pockets if we needed to go and do it. I’m feeling good for tomorrow and im optimistic we can do well in all conditions.”
Tom Ingram came closest to unseating Sutton from the top although he was one of the drivers to lose a lap due to track limits. His penultimate attempt put him second, just 0.003 seconds off Sutton’s lap.
Ingram didn’t seem too disappointed to just miss out;
“That was super close. We believe that the 0.003s time difference is 13 centimetres on track. Rockingham wasn’t quite up to our standards so after some positive changes it looks like we’re back to where we were at the start of the year. I will try my best and there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t turn that into good results tomorrow. Qualifying is one thing though and racing is another, so we need to make sure we have a good Sunday.”
Josh Cook’s MG was third, just 0.146 seconds off his team mate and showing that this could be a strong circuit for MG in tomorrow’s races.
Cook felt he could have been quicker;
“I think I left a little bit on the table there. A few times I was up on my best but there was a lot of traffic in that five minute dash that cost us. Nobody was going to get out of the way for each other while they were battling to better their times. We had good race pace in practice and I am disappointed to miss out on the front row but I’ll take it and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
Mark Howard’s BKR VW CC went off late in the session causing a brief red flag stoppage and this left a final five minutes to set a quick time. Sadly this didn’t lead to a final shoot out for pole as by then conditions were past their best and few drivers improved their times.
Andrew Jordan put his Motorbase run Pirtek Ford Focus in fourth ahead of Adam Morgan who continues his usual consistent qualifying pace with fifth. Jordan’s team mate Mat Jackson struggled once again after being slow in practice two and this time could only manage twenty first on the grid. The team will be trying discover the reason for his lack of pace before tomorrow’s races.
Rob Austin gave Handy Motorsport their best ever grid slot with sixth place just ahead of Matt Neal who now seemed much happier with the pace of his Civic despite it being laden with success ballast. He is the best placed of the realistic contenders for the overall championship.
Hunter Abbott delivered on the promise he showed in second practice with eighth, another driver to lose a lap due to track limits, he actually set his best lap on his ninth time round. He will be keeping everything crossed that it will finally give him a good result on Sunday and that he can put his poor race day luck behind him.
Ninth was BKR’s Aron Smith, another driver keeping up his quick practice pace. Tenth was the second Honda of Gordon Shedden, also running with success ballast and losing his initial best lap due to track limits infringements. On a track where they haven’t always gone well and with both cars laden with Ballast, the Honda team will be pleased with that result.
Jake Hill took eleventh for RCIB Insurance racing in his Avensis ahead of Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat’s Mercedes.
Thirteenth was where the best of the Subaru’s managed but it was team boss Warren Scott who took that position. The team’s usual pace setters Turkington and Plato were fifteenth and sixteenth respectively.
The trio of WSR run BMW’s had a disastrous session. With their car already off the pace due to apparently not suiting the circuit, they managed to get in each others way, with both Tordoff and Collard losing time due to a misunderstanding with each other. Tordoff was seventeenth with Goff eighteenth in the IHG car. Collard ended up worst off taking twenty fifth.
Martin Depper continued his positive day in his Eurotech Honda taking fourteenth on the grid. Team mate Jeff Smith is nineteenth.
Ollie Jackson, who had been running strongly in the AMD Tuning Audi, couldn’t reproduce the same pace for qualifying and he ended up twenty fourth.
Two drivers suffered mechanical issues, Matt Simpson and Michael Epps. Epps car only completed two laps which would have left him last on the grid but Simpson’s car which was ten second faster gets demoted to the back after Simpson received his third strike of the season(Three driving penalties) at Rockingham and so it demoted to the back for race one.
Tomorrow’s first BTCC race starts at three minutes to midday but with a pit lane walkabout first thing at ten past nine, it’s worth coming early. Tickets are available on the gate and with dry weather forecast it’s an event well worth visiting on what it the penultimate chance to see the BTCC in 2016.
Qualifying – Silverstone:
1 Ash SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance 58.321s (101.26 mph)
2 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +0.003s
3 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.146s
4 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +0.160s
5 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +0.216s
6 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +0.277s
7 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.350s
8 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +0.388s
9 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +0.403s
10 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.459s
11 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +0.536s
12 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.555s
13 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.562s
14 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.639s
15 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.676s
16 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.686s
17 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.693s
18 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +0.719s
19 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.734s
20 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +0.759s
21 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +0.828s
22 Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing +0.915s
23 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.018s
24 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +1.047s
25 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +1.059s
26 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +1.107s
27 Tony GILHAM (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +1.209s
28 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +1.396s
29 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +1.593s
30 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +2.294s
31 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +12.655s By Marc Waller
