Last lap time all “part of the plan” for Stewart Whyte

Stewart Whyte’s last lap time was all part of the plan for the Scottish driver, who will start the first race of the weekend from pole position.

Whyte spent the majority of the session around fifth, but put in a time much faster than his previous efforts just as the chequered flag dropped, a time that would see him jump straight to the top of the standings and secure pole position.

“The car’s going good,” Whyte told TouringCarTimes. “We’re just getting used to the new tyres and building it up slowly, but yeah, it’s going good. I think the new [Hoosier] tyres take a wee bit longer than the Dunlops to come on, and I didn’t want to damage them at the start. It looked like it was going to dry up so I thought I’d better save the best of them until the end, that was the plan.”

The 2014 season saw a strong duel between Whyte and eventual champion James Dodd, who is absent this weekend, at Brands Hatch, with the pair going wheel to wheel for the entire of both encounters.

“Me and James had a really good two races here last year so it would’ve been good to have him here to have a race,” continued Whyte. “It’ll probably still be close, we’ll just have to see what happens tomorrow with the weather, hopefully it’s dry. It’s just easier in the dry, it’s just a wee bit more hairy in the wet!”