Tom Chilton hopes to convert first pole to first victory

Tom Chilton is hoping that his pace at Sonoma Raceway will help take him to a first race win on Sunday, after claiming his first pole position with RML at the California circuit. The Chevrolet driver is well aware he will have a tough challenge from team-mate Yvan Muller from second on the grid, who is chasing his fourth title this weekend.

Chilton left it to the final seconds of qualifying to put on his best performance of the weekend, setting the best time of qualifying in the first sector and with a further two strong sectors to grab pole position ahead of team-mate Yvan Muller, with the two RML drivers over half a second clear from the third placed car, the Honda of Tiago Monteiro.

“My first sector is where it was awesome, it felt perfect sitting in the car,” said Chilton to TouringCarTimes.

“It’s very hard to get the first six corners in sector one right, I think every corner has got something unusual about it. The first corner’s got a bump then it gets tighter, at Turn 2 just as you want to get on the power it goes over crest and then the camber falls away, then the next you brake down a steep hill with massive compression, then the next one is completely blind over a hill with camber falling away, every single corner is not a normal corner.”

Yvan Muller’s time of 1:45.708 puts the three-time champion, who can mathematically secure his fourth title this weekend at Sonoma, second on the grid behind his team-mate, with the team left with the decision as to how to handle the start of the race, where it’s been argued that starting on the inside into the fast-left Turn 1 is a disadvantage turning into the right-hander up the hill at Turn 2.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Chilton. “I think if we actually said let’s hold our places two-by-two all the way through Turn 2 and then race, I think Yvan will be shafted in Turn 3 ‘cos he could would be on the outside, but he could still stay there though to be fair.

“I really want my first win, and I would like to beat the world’s best driver on my own without any hand outs.”

Chilton’s pole position means he will provisionally start tenth on the grid for the second race, with race two generally being where the 28-year-old has often struggled this season, but the RML driver is hoping to put on a better performance on Sunday, though he will have the challenge of three fast-starting BMWs and the SEAT of reigning GT champion Marc Basseng behind him for the standing start.

“I think this year I’ve had the pace on one lap and done pretty well in most of my first races,” he said. “It’s my second race I need to work on, so I’m going to try really hard this weekend to get that better.”