Rob Austin “over the moon” with front row slot

Rob Austin said he was “over the moon” with a qualifying session which will see him start on the front row for the first race at Knockhill today.

Austin set the third fastest time in his Audi A4, which became second following the application of Colin Turkington’s eight place grid penalty from Snetterton.

And there were double celebrations for the Rob Austin Racing squad, with Hunter Abbott enjoying the best qualifying performance of his BTCC career to date with 11th.

Austin said: “I’m over the moon with that one – it gives us a great chance of some very strong results. The car really suits this kind of circuit and I love it here – Knockhill really asks a lot of commitment from the driver and that’s something I can supply.

“Above all it’s another great job from the whole Rob Austin Racing team. It’s always worth reminding people we’re a small independently-run team but we’re still able to compete against the bigger outfits at what is the highest level of motor sport in the UK.

“Obviously it’s only half the job done. The three races are when the points are scored and it’ll be really important that I get a clean getaway and into a groove early on. Podiums are always great but I am definitely going for wins.”

Abbott was also happy with his performance, but felt it could have been several places higher.

He said: “I effectively lost a set of tyres when I had to take evasive action to avoid a slow pack of cars right in front of me. It meant I span off the circuit and although I was able to rejoin I only got one really good run after that. I’m sure with some more running I could have found another tenth and a half of a second which was top eight pace.

“But I’m still very happy with 11th. I’ll have championship leader Coin Turkington starting right in front of me on the grid so maybe with a good start I can tuck in with him and see how it goes from there. Most importantly, though, I’m in a good position to score some decent points across the three races tomorrow so long as I can keep my nose clean which is never the easiest thing at Knockhill.”