WSR locked out the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) second row at Snetterton as all four BMW 330e M Sports qualified inside the top 10 in a frantic session that was red-flagged twice on Saturday afternoon.
Team BMW’s Colin Turkington and Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill start third and fourth in Sunday’s opening race while season’s-best results for Adam Morgan and Stephen Jelley place them sixth and 10th on the grid.
“Having all four BMWs qualifying in the top 10 is a very good result in what was a messy session with the red flags and the fluid on the track,” commented Team Principal Dick Bennets. “The tyre strategy could be critical tomorrow so we need to consider very carefully which route we go with each car.
“We suffered tyre failures with the soft at Brands Hatch so avoiding a repeat is something we’re all aiming for. If we can do that, there’s no reason why we can’t have a very strong raceday.”
Such an achievement looked impossible a third of the way into qualifying – which this time featured the standard, 30-minute format – as Colin and Adam, along with four other drivers, spun off at the ultra-quick Coram bend after skidding on fluid dropped by another car.
While Adam spun harmlessly before regaining the track, Colin hit the tyre barrier hard, but miraculously escaped with only cosmetic damage; proving the strength and durability of the hybrid BMW 330e M Sport.
The Northern Irishman, who has won six of the past 12 races at Snetterton in the BMW 3 Series, had not even completed a lap at this point, but drew on the experience garnered in his more than 500 BTCC races to qualify third.
Kent racer Jake was fortunate to avoid going off on the same fluid and matched Colin for pace throughout the session. While he set an ultimately faster lap than the four-time title-winner, this was later removed due to him exceeding track limits.
He instead starts fourth as both he and Colin maintained their records of qualifying inside the top four at every event so far in 2023.
Behind them, Adam, who had struggled to find a balance that suited him during practice, made huge progress on track to qualify sixth; the Lancashire racer’s best result since becoming part of the Team BMW line-up at the start of this year.
Stephen was another to score a season’s-best result in the session as he made the top 10 for the first time in 2023 in 10th.
The Leicester racer was frustrated, however, after being baulked by a slower car on several occasions, and showed individual sector times that added up to a top-six result. He is confident of showing his true pace in race trim tomorrow.
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