Matt Simpson remains hopeful of strong qualifying

Matt Simpson said he remained confident of a strong showing in qualifying for the latest rounds of the BTCC season at Oulton Park despite seeing his practice running curtailed by an incident in the early part of second practice.

The Simpson Racing man, who secured pole and the race one win twelve months ago, had only completed a single run to scrub tyres in the session when he was caught up in a clash with Andrew Jordan whilst exiting the pits after the WSR man suffered a spin on the exit of turn one.

It prevented Simpson from setting a time and left the team with work to do to repair his damaged Honda Civic Type R ahead of qualifying later today.

“We’d only bedded in some soft tyres and then pitted for a set of mediums,” he said. “I was minding my own business exiting the pits and then as I looked left, I suddenly saw Jordan’s BMW coming straight towards me. It’s done the sill, the pillar and both doors so there is a bit of work for the boys to do but we’ll be back out for qualifying.

“Last season here was brilliant and I’m sure we’ll still be okay despite the lost track time. I’d like to think we can qualify inside the top ten.”

The incident would also rule Jordan out of much of the session despite WSR’s best efforts to get the BMW back out for at least a single lap before the chequered flag dropped.

“It was one of those unfortunate things that happens,” he said. “I just lost the rear a little going into turn one and got a wheel on the grass, and that made me spin. Matt was in the wrong place at the wrong time but there was nothing I could have done to avoid him. It was just really unlucky, and I’ve been down to apologise.

“Until then, the car had felt good and even though we only got a single timed lap in FP2, I think we’d made some improvements from earlier in the day so I’m confident we can put in a good showing in qualifying.”