Quotes from the fourth qualifying session of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season
Chris Smiley: “FP1, we sort of scrubbed all our tyres, did our homework, and built up towards the end. The car felt okay. Race pace-wise, the car felt fine, but the outright lap speed for qualifying probably wasn’t there.
In FP2, we scrubbed a few more tyres and then had a bit of an attack on qualifying. We were a little bit loose on the rear, and we felt that we knew how to fix it given the track temperature.
However, going into qualifying, the track temperature jumped up quite a bit and changed the balance of the car dramatically. It increased our oversteer, even though the things we had done before were meant to combat the oversteer. So, yeah, I think the weather made it a bit of a moving target, and we had a little bit of a problem with the car as well, so that didn’t help either. I think we have good race pace for tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to the three races.”
Chris starts P17 in tomorrows race 1 due to oversteering issues in qualifying.
Scott Sumpton: “I thought the car was in a very good place in FP2 and the changes we were going to make for qualifying were going to help me. But overall I just felt that we was a little bit rear limited. Just losing the rear in all the high speed parts.
So it’s not where I wanted the car and not ideal but I’ve learned lots today and it’s my first time here at Thruxton, so it’s a big learning curve. Obviously trying to learn how the British Touring Car Cupra handles and making it handle round here is very very tricky.
We’re getting there and hopefully the 3 races tomorrow go well and we can keep our nose clean and get some good points.”
Scott will start 18th in tomorrows Race 1 after his first ever qualifying session at Thruxton.