Sam Tordoff aiming for first two rows in qualifying

West Surrey Racing’s Sam Tordoff says he would be disappointed to qualify outside of the front two rows after topping the second practice session at Croft on new tyres.

Tordoff’s time of 1.24.534 in the BMW 125i was 0.314 faster than Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram, but still slightly shy of Colin Turkington’s record time of 1.24.465 set in 2013.

Tordoff said the circuit felt slower than in previous years, but was confident of what he could achieve in the qualifying session later this afternoon.

“In the first session we used some really old tyres and it really became apparent how bad they are, so it didn’t really do a great deal. We just believed we had the setup on the car if we put some better tyres on it, and immediately we were P2 behind Andy [Priaulx],” said Tordoff to TouringCarTimes.

“That was nice just to confirm what I’d hoped but didn’t know for definite, that I had pace in the car.

“At the end we put a set of new tyres on, just for me really to get an understanding what a rear-wheel drive new tyre run is like around here. We contemplated saving three sets for qualifying but for my understanding I wanted to feel what a new tyre run was like.”

Looking ahead to qualifying, which gets underway at 15:45 BST, Tordoff added: “We have to be on the first couple of rows and use the advantage of the car around here. I think anything outside the top five is going to be a little bit of a disappointment.”