Colin Turkington will start inside the top 10 at Oulton Park after a challenging day for BMW and WSR in British Touring Car Championship qualifying.
The four-time champion had just three seconds of hybrid power available to his BMW 330e M Sport by virtue of his third place in the Drivers’ Championship, less than all but two other cars on track.
But after falling outside the top 10 in both practice sessions, the Northern Irishman dug deep and produced a strong final flyer to snatch ninth spot and put himself ahead of all but two of the early-season title contenders.
“It’s been a challenging day on a track that’s usually good for our BMWs,” commented Dick Bennetts, Team Principal. “We’ve improved all three cars through practice and into qualifying, but other cars have done the same.
“The championship leader is, at least, behind Colin, so that’s something that’s good for us, and the BMW is always a good car in race trim when conditions are consistent – as we expect them to be tomorrow. We’ll be focused on scoring good points with all three drivers and seeing what we can do with the reversed-grid race.”
Stephen Jelley, who had been faster than Colin in FP2, looked set for a similar result to his team-mate in qualifying.
But the Leicester racer’s hopes were thwarted when his best time was disallowed due to an incident elsewhere on track triggering a second red flag of the session less than one second before he was due to complete the lap.
That time would have placed the 2019 Oulton Park BTCC race winner on the fifth row and continued his run of top-10 qualifying performances, but instead he found himself 12th.
Jake Hill, who had six seconds of hybrid available due to lying fifth in the points, had been the fastest WSR driver in both free practice sessions, but the ROKiT MB Motorsport man saw his hopes in qualifying dashed by an incident at three-quarters distance.
Exiting the high-speed Old Hall corner to begin a flying lap with his new tyres in optimal condition, the Kent racer was forced off the track and onto the grass by a rival car that veered aggressively across the track after exiting the pitlane.
Racing downhill on the bumpy run-off zone, the grille of Jake’s BMW was filled with grass, causing him to abandon his run and pit. He starts Race One from 15th place.
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