Adam Morgan was able to see the bright side of his qualifying result at Brands Hatch, despite ending up in 14th place.
The WIX Racing driver came into the weekend with high hopes for his new Mercedes A-Class machine, and backed up that confidence with a pair of strong performances in the first two practice sessions of the weekend.
Qualifying was less successful however, although Morgan was pleased with his first competitive run in the A-class.
“Yes and no really,” said Morgan to TouringCars.Net, when asked if he was disappointed with his position. “I think if you look at all the people who have brand new cars for this year, we’ve not done so badly compared to the likes of everybody else so [to be] p14 out of a 30 car grid, it isn’t bad for a brand new car which has only been tested four times.
“However, after the testing we have done the car has been really promising and the times have been really quick so it is a bit disappointing that we’re not a bit higher up but I don’t think we maximised the new tyre runs as much as we’d have liked to.”
He also believed that the closeness of the times – which saw Morgan qualify just three-tenths-of-a-second away from pole – could play into his hands in the race.
“It’s unbelievably close, I’ve been told it’s eight tenths separate the first 24 drivers so it’s just incredibly close and that’s all we need really.
“I think we’re a little bit down on straight line speed which again down the straights I think we’re losing a tenth, a tenth-and-a-bit in a straight line so I think round the corners the car is phenomenal, that’s one of our issues so it’ll be an interesting day tomorrow.”
Looking ahead to the first set of races, Morgan was hopeful of being able to make progress through the field.
“Tomorrow three finishes, consistency and moving forward [are what we are aiming for],” said the 25-year-old. “If I start 14th in the first one, my aim is for the top ten and race two again go a little bit further up and just keep edging our way forwards towards the front and we’ll see what the reverse grid brings.
“It going to be an incredibly tight race and it’s going to be exciting.”