Tom Onslow-Cole took his Vauxhall to pole
Tom Onslow-Cole has taken his second pole position in a row in qualifying for tomorrow’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.
Onslow-Cole, who is this weekend celebrating his 21st birthday, set the pole time in 1m17.165s – an average speed of some 109.91mph – to beat Vauxhall team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi, the reigning champion.
"It was a pretty hairy lap - I really couldn't have wrung much more from it," Onslow-Cole told BTCC.net. "I've definitely hit on a great set-up with the car. I've come into the team, learnt from my team-mates and then added a few tweaks to suit my style.
"I had pole at Donington Park a few weeks ago but couldn't get the win. If I do get a win tomorrow then that's a bonus - the most important thing is scoring well in all three races. The wins will come...
"We may have to wind off some of the set-up a bit to preserve the tyres over a race distance but probably not too much - we feel confident we've got a good handle on how the car will behave over a race distance."
Italian Giovanardi, leading the series arriving at Thruxton, set a time of 1m17.425s to wind up second fastest overall - a hugely impressive performance considering his Vectra is laden with maximum success ballast, an extra 45kgs.
Third was Team Halfords’ Gordon Shedden with a time of 1m17.516s and fourth Matt neal - just missing out on making it a VX Racing 1-2-3. Shedden had had all his times disallowed after his Honda Civic failed a ride height check, but they were duly reinstated when officials agreed this was due to his car's floor having been damaged in a minor excursion with the kerbs.
Not so fortunate was Giovanardi’s nearest championship challenger Jason Plato - as the session entered its final phase, all his times were annulled for a similar infringement. With just three minutes remaining he was able to rejoin the circuit and set the sixth fastest time.
Colin Turkington, in his Team RAC BMW 320si, was the fastest independent in eighth, just ahead of father and son team Mike and Andrew Jordan who set the ninth and tenth fastest times in their John Guest Racing Hondas. Next up were Independent leaders Adam Jones' Team Air Cool SEAT Leon and Mat Jackson's BMW Dealer Team UK BMW 320si - pointing to an intriguing battle for privateer honours tomorrow.
Meanwhile, on his return to the BTCC, Gareth Howell was 21st fastest in BTC Racing's SEAT Toledo.
BTCC Thruxton qualifying, leading positions (provisional):
1. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, 1m17.165s
2. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.260s
3. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.351s
4. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.360s
5. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.547s
6. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, +0.646s
7. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK, SEAT Leon TDI, +0.682s
8. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +0.751s
9. Mike Jordan (GBR), John Guest Racing/Honda Integra, +0.850s
10. Andrew Jordan (GBR), John Guest Racing/Honda Integra, +0.863s