BMW and WSR locked out the second row of the grid for the British Touring Car Championship season-opener at Donington Park as a thrilling qualifying session dominated proceedings on Saturday.
Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill and Team BMW’s Colin Turkington will start tomorrow’s first race of 2023 from third and fourth places on the grid after starring in the two-part ‘Top-10 Showdown’ at the East Midlands venue.
“To have two BMWs on the second row is a pretty strong start,” commented Team Principal, Dick Bennetts. “We’d like to have repeated last year’s one-two, but to have Jake and Colin in a three-four is a strong result. Some of the other cars look strong on peak laptime, but the BMW is very good on tyre wear and looked excellent on the longer runs in practice so that all bodes well for our four drivers tomorrow. Let’s see what it brings.”
Four-time series champion Colin set the fastest time across two earlier practice sessions and went fourth-quickest in the regular 30-minute section of qualifying – one spot ahead of Jake.
But it was Jake, from Kent, who prevailed in the 10-driver ‘Showdown’ that followed immediately afterwards; lapping half a second under his 2022 record pole time to take third spot on the grid.
Northern Irishman Colin was little over a tenth of a second slower in fourth while Team BMW newcomer Adam Morgan qualified eighth.
The Lancashire racer had set top-10 times during the practice sessions, as had his team-mate Stephen Jelley. The Leicester driver qualified 15th for his local race aboard his BMW 330e M Sport.
Comments