Tom Chilton happy with “best of the rest” after surprise top five appearance

ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton was happy to be the top independent qualifier at Paul Ricard, and the only driver to take the fight to Citroën in the one-lap shootout, joining Ma Qing Hua, Yvan Muller, Sébastien Loeb and José María López in the top five in Q2, after fearing the Chevrolet RML Cruze might miss the top ten altogether.

“I thought we were struggling and I thought there was a chance we (wouldn’t be better) than P11,” said Chilton. “But then the team told me we were P3 (in Q2), so I thought the Citroëns must not have put new tyres on yet.

“(However) I think the circuit came towards my car. I did a perfect lap in Q2, and in Q3 I thought I’ve got nothing to lose and I have to go absolutely flat out as I thought there’s a chance I could get pole if it stays this close.

“Unfortunately Sébastien, Yvan and López they all did a blinding lap. I tried to improve everywhere and couldn’t go an ounce faster and actually overdrove and lost two-tenths.”

Chilton qualified fifth and grabs a point for pole position in the independents’ classification, closing the gap to class leader Norbert Michelisz to just eight points.

“I’m very happy with myself as I feel we’re the best of the rest,” he added. “There’s no other Chevrolets, Hondas or Ladas in front of me, so I’m happy with our performance but our goal is to beat Citroën as Citroën have the best car, and we’re trying to do everything we can to get close to them.”