Photo: WTCC Media

Tom Chilton top Chevrolet in qualifying, but rues lost Q2 chance

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ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton qualified as the best placed of the Chevrolet drivers in Hungary in seventh position, behind three Citroëns and three Hondas, but lost out on a chance to get into Q3 after he was caught up behind Norbert Michelisz, who suffered a technical malady at Turn 5 on his only flying run.

Chilton had been the fastest of the Chevrolet RML Cruze drivers throughout every session of the weekend, and although he was still the quickest in Q2, he believes the top five was possible if it weren’t for losing time on his only flying run in Q2.

“I’m not happy with seventh,” he told TouringCarTimes. “(In Q2) we didn’t have enough time to do two flying laps on two sets of tyres, so we only had one run. I started my flying lap behind Norbi (Michelisz) in Q2, I got a tiny bit of slipstream, and then Borkovic came out of the pits at the start which cost me about a tenth into Turn 1, and then Norbi came off at Turn 5. When that happened, I braked fractionally earlier in case there was oil down, but then Norbi but full throttle on to get back on to the circuit so I went out wide to leave him room, and got a load of dust and dirt on my tyres and was on the wrong line for the next corner, and I lost about four and a half tenths over the lap.

“If those things hadn’t happened in front of me, I’d have been P1 in Q2 and that would have been a completely different ball game for Q3. I think looking at the time I think we could have done if we’d got to Q3, I think it would have been really close between me and Tiago (Monteiro).

“My aim this year is to get into Q3 at every round, and so I’m disappointed.”

Looking ahead to today’s races, Chilton believes it will be hard to move forward at the Hungarian circuit, but the best shot at a good result will be in the second race, where he will start behind the three Chevrolets of Tom Coronel, Gianni Morbidelli and Hugo Valente.

“Around here it’s very hard to overtake. I think the car is now a lot more effective in terms of aero and downforce, and being close together in the race causes you to lose a lot of front-end grip, but I’m going to try very hard to get on the podium in the second race,” he said.