Knockhill has a habit of producing some unpredictable results, but few would argue that Rob Austin and his hordes of hardened fans deserve this pole position at Knockhill today. After topping the times in free practice one, the WIX Racing man drove the wheels of his Audi A4 to a new qualifying lap record, with a time of 52.471 seconds, to take the P1 grid slot for tomorrow’s opening race.
Austin’s time, posted with just eleven minutes remaining on the clock; was enough to give the popular driver his first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship pole, and likewise, a maiden pole for the car -dubbed Sherman.
A delighted Austin beamed:
“I was confident heading into qualifying, we ran old tyres in FP2 and the car was still pretty quick.
“We did ok on the first set (of tyres) and when we changed them, l just went for it.”
Continued Austin:
“I shut my eye’s going through the chicane, never braked and was mightily relieved to still be on two wheels when l got to the other end.”
Austin will be joined on the front row by the eBay Motors BMW of Colin Turkington. Home favourite, Gordon Shedden will start from third on the grid despite finishing fourth in qualifying. Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan knew heading into this weekend, he would suffer a six-place grid penalty regardless of where he finished, and his third place finish sees him ultimately line up ninth for tomorrow’s opener.
Shedden will have Jason Plato and Matt Neal directly behind him in P4 and P5 respectively. That’s four MSA British Touring Car Champions all in close proximity; and fans will know all-to-well that there are usually some fireworks at the start of BTCC races at Knockhill.
Defending Champion, and home favourite, Gordon Shedden commented:
“There are a lot of points up for grabs tomorrow, we can race from where we have finished today, but l think tomorrow is going to be spectacular.
“The weather forecast is looking good, it’s always good racing at Knockhill and the fans create a special atmosphere; so roll on race day.”
For all the latest reaction to today’s qualifying session, please log on to the Official BTCC website.
Tomorrow’s race day will likely be very busy and the superb from today will no-doubt swell ticket numbers overnight. Please ensure you leave appropriate time to reach and enter the venue.
The first BTCC race will start at 11.40am, make sure you are here to see if Rob Austin can hold off four BTCC Champions, to take the first race win of the day.
Tickets for this Sunday’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship can be purchased in advance via the Knockhill website. Tickets can also be purchased at the gate all weekend. Check our our spectator and event information blog – packed with useful info about this weekend.