Tom Chilton disappointed with missed pole opportunity

After setting the fastest two sectors on the track in yesterday’s qualifying session, Tom Chilton was unfortunate to miss out on his first pole position with the RML Chevrolet after a mistake in the final sector.

Chilton was towing behind team-mate Yvan Muller on the second run in Q2, whose lap had already been disrupted after he came across Fernando Monje’s SEAT, and was on target to take a first career pole until a mistake at the hairpin.

“I am disappointed because I was fastest in sector one and sector two,” said Chilton to TouringCarTimes.

“I tried to take a little bit of kerb on the last corner at the hairpin to try and shorten the lap a little more because I was right on the bumper of Yvan to get a nice little tow and I bounced off the kerb which forced me to understeer, I lost about four-tenths.”

“I looked at Alain Menu’s video footage from last year and we was clipping it every lap and he was leading the race, so I thought I might try and clip it a little bit,” he added.

Although team-mate Muller was help up by Monje’s SEAT, who was on track to grab the coveted tenth spot and thus pole for race two, Chilton’s lap was unaffected by the Spaniard and it was just the error on the final corner that spoiled his lap.

“Yvan and I had to brake early, and Yvan managed to pressurise him and pushed him wide,” said Chilton.

“I just had to brake a little bit early in turn five, but it didn’t really affect my time. ”

Looking ahead to today’s races, Chilton is optimistic despite starting fifth and sixth for both races. Chilton is now tied for second in the drivers’ standings with Gabriele Tarquini, after the Honda driver moves forward with the points for pole position.

“I’ve made a few set-up changes and I think it seemed to have worked, but we’ll have to change back for the race as it’s hurting the tyre more,” he said.

“Gabriele and I are joint second in the championship because he scored five points for pole, it’s all getting a lot closer.”