Matt Simpson “over the moon” with stunning Oulton Park pole

Matt Simpson admitted his delight at securing pole position for the first time in the BTCC at Oulton Park.

Simpson had led the way in free practice at the Cheshire circuit at the wheel of his Eurotech-run Honda Civic Type-R and carried his strong form into qualifying as he snared top spot by more than two-tenths of a second.

Prior to that, Simpson had only once qualified inside the top ten – earlier this season at Brands Hatch – and is now in the ideal position to try and better his previous best race result of seventh, which he also secured during the season opener.

“I’m over the moon – and beyond,” he said. “Going into the session I felt that pole would probably be around 1:25.6ish so when I saw a 1:25.7 come up I knew it was a good lap but I was also ready for others to challenge it – particularly someone like Brett [Smith] given he was running without ballast as well. It’s a mega feeling to have put the car on pole and when you consider that I was doing 26.9s last year, it’s a big improvement to have made.

“Qualifying has always been my Achilles heel and I’ve been better in the races, so I feel confident going into tomorrow. I think the race pace will be strong and I’m not worried about being nervous or feeling under any pressure – although it might change when I get to the grid and am sitting there in P1! Like every other driver, I’m on track because I want to win and that’s what I’ll be going for.”