MacDowall qualifying run cut short by warning light

Alex MacDowall continued his run of out-qualifying veteran team mate Jason Plato at Silverstone, putting the Silverline Chevrolet Cruze in third place on the grid, but didn’t get to do his final laps due to his gearbox overheating.

Around the short Silverstone National circuit, the two Silverline Chevrolets put into practice the plan they’d rehearsed at Snetterton, but couldn’t carry out due to the rain, with the two cars towing each other down the straights to improve their lap times.

“The plan was that I’d go out first and tow Jason, then I got the tow in front, but I actually set my fastest lap whilst I was out in front giving Jason a tow,” explained Alex to TouringCarTimes.

“When I was behind him, because he was running 45 kilograms, I just misjudged it and I gained on him within two corners and had to back off, which didn’t really help.”

“I thought right, we’ve got another shot, or another two shots – but then the gear temp light came on, I think the gearbox oil overheated…so we just parked it and that was good enough for P3.”

With Team Aon pulling out such a strong performance in qualifying, MacDowall isn’t downhearted, and thinks the Chevrolet Cruze can still challenge for victory.

“I think towards the end of the race they’ll struggle…but it’s just trying to get past them…by the time you get to the braking zone they’re like five car lengths ahead,” said Alex.

“Just because they’ve got all that extra power, they struggle. Their front tyres have to work harder, whereas we’ve got a naturally aspirated engine, which is what you’re meant to have” joked Alex.

The Chevrolet Cruze had great race pace last time out at Snetterton, with even the rear-wheel drive BMW’s, which typically manage their tyres better late in the race, unable to keep with them. MacDowall says he expects a similar performance from the Cruze here, saying that Chevrolet probably have the best set-up of all the front-wheel drive cars.

On the question of team orders, Alex says he’s free to race

“As long as Jason’s in front of Matt, which is what he just has done, I can go on and do what I want” he said.