Photo: TCR UK

Andreas Bäckman masters drying track to claim maiden TCR UK pole position at Croft

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Andreas Bäckman struck late to claim his maiden TCR UK championship pole position on a drying circuit at Croft, beating Ollie Taylor’s Pyro Motorsport into second spot.

WestCoast Racing’s Bäckman, driving Sean Walkinshaw’s Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR this weekend while his regular Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR is being run by Fredrik Ekblom in the STCC, set a time of 1:30.074 to beat Taylor by over half second.

Stewart Lines impressed in his Maximum Motorsport Cupra TCR, setting the third quickest time and his best result of the season. He finished with a time of 1:31.152, just over a second off Bäckman.

Championship leader Dan Lloyd could only manage the fourth fastest time in his WestCoast Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. Lloyd will start tomorrow’s opening race from the back of the grid however, after incurring a five place grid penalty for his part in contact with Lines last time out at Oulton Park.

Taylor and Lloyd each spent the majority of the session in the pits as a damp track progressively dried out over the course of the 30 minutes’ running.

Bäckman set the early pace and traded fastest times with sister Jessica in the second WestCoast Golf.

As the track became almost completely dry in the closing stages, there was a flurry of drivers taking provisional pole, before Andreas Bäckman’s final effort.

Taylor and Lloyd both held the top spot temporarily but Bäckman, making the most of being last over the line, claimed his first career pole.

Behind Jessica Bäckman was Finlay Crocker in the Verizon Connect Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8. The Scotsman bounced back from a gear selection problem which halted his progress in the warm up to set the sixth quickest time, having been as high as third.

Lewis Kent finished the session seventh fastest in his Essex and Kent Hyundai i30 N TCR machine, albeit over three seconds off the overall best.

Darelle Wilson made it back out on track after suffering a damaged splitter in practice and was the slowest runner in the field, four seconds slower than Bäckman.

Race 1 at Croft is scheduled to start tomorrow at 12:25 BST.