Jack Goff surprised with qualifying pace

Jack Goff admitted he hadn’t expected to qualify so high with ballast onboard after snaring sixth on the grid for the second meeting of the BTCC season at Donington Park.

Carrying 66kg of ballast due to his position in the championship standings, the Eurotech Racing driver emerged from a frenetic session as the best-placed driver on the grid with extra weight onboard.

It leaves the Brands Hatch race winner well placed going into race day, although he will be running the less favourable hard tyre in the opening race.

“We’re the top runner with ballast which is a good result and something to be pleased with,” he said. “The car wasn’t perfect by any means which is good in a way because we know there is more in the bag, but then again, we are also wondering why we didn’t get more from it in the session.

“We have to see how the conditions are tomorrow but we are running the hard tyre in race one to get it out of the way, having not expected to qualify quite so high. Anyone with ballast will see race one as damage limitation so we decided to get the tyre out of the way at the same time.

“We haven’t done much running on it over the winter so it is something of a step into the unknown but others are in the same boat. We have to try and finish in the top ten in race one and stay out of trouble so we can build on it in races two and three.”