Rockingham Qualifying Reaction
Following on from Tom Chilton’s historic LPG pole position at Rockingham, several of the drivers have been speaking about their own qualifying efforts. Tom Chilton leads the way for Sunday’s opening race, ahead of Matt Neal, though the third and fifth position Chevrolet Cruze both look threatening, with Plato promising the team have yet to find the car’s “sweet spot”.
Tom Chilton, Pole Position
“I’d pieced the perfect lap together in my mind beforehand and reeled every corner, every gear change off as I’d planned it,” said Chilton speaking to the official BTCC website. “It was a good job I did as I couldn’t get near it again after that!”
Alex MacDowall, 3rd
“It was definitely the best qualifying I’ve ever had. The car was just awesome towards the end. We made a few setup changes and it just came together. I thought the first fast time I set was going to be hard to beat, but we managed it.
“I’m pleased to be up there, but it’s going to be tough so I just need to keep a cool head and get a good race.”
Jason Plato, 5th
“We haven’t found the sweet spot of the car yet. We set a good time for FP2, which we were looking to improve on for qualifying, but we’ve since lost a bit of front grip. However we’ve got a lot of beneficial data now, so will work on our strategy for the first race tomorrow.”
Mike Earle, Team Aon Principal
“Until you’ve tried it, nobody will understand what a technical challenge this programme presented us with,” said Earle, speaking to the official series website. “For anybody that thinks it’s easy, I invite them to go and try it because it involves a lot more than just bolting a gas tank in the back of the car!
“I think it is particularly fitting that Ford should be the first manufacturer to have a car running LPG on pole position, given the fact that a huge percentage of their cars sold worldwide are supplied to run on LPG as standard. My thanks go to everyone involved for helping us make history.”
Steven Kane, 9th
“It’s nice to be the quickest BMW out there but ultimately I’m not satisfied. We’re still getting used to the new tyre and we’re not getting the most out of it.
“In the first sectors the turbo cars are very quick. They won’t be able to run such an aggressive set-up during the races tomorrow and that will play into our hands. I want to be on that podium in every race”
Mat Jackson, 11th
“We cooked the diff in the free practice session and the replacement wasn’t quite set-up properly. Tonight the team will be able to sort that out so we’ll be a lot quicker tomorrow.
“The chassis feels great and I think we’ll be right up there. I’ll try my hardest and I’m aiming for podiums in every race.”
Dave Bartrum, Airwaves BMW Team Principal
“It wasn’t a bad session considering we were the quickest of all the BMWs, but, there’s more to come. Ninth and eleventh isn’t perfect, but that’s racing. Tomorrow’s another day and I’m confident we’ll do better.”
