Andy Priaulx believes a place on the front row of tomorrow’s British Touring Car Championship grid was possible as he ended the afternoon with the sixth quickest time.
Priaulx, who celebrates his 41st birthday today, was fastest in the morning’s opening practice session, before lapping within two-tenths-of-a-second of pole-winner Colin Turkington to secure a spot on row three for tomorrow’s opening race.
But speaking to TouringCars.Net, the Guernseyman was adamant that he could have ended the session further up the order had it not been for interfering traffic.
“It’s okay,” said a reflective Priaulx of his result. “It’s one of our weaker tracks but I think the car was actually very strong and should have been towards the front – maybe the front row or the top four.
“As it is we’re sixth. I had quite a bad run in traffic and both of my fastest laps were done passing cars in the last sector – not only passing them but really being held up by them – so I think from that perspective I’m disappointed because the car was capable of doing more.
“I didn’t have a slipstream from anybody so that’s general good pace.”
Despite feelings of disappointment, Priaulx was confident that Sunday’s three races presented him with a good opportunity to take the fight to the leading Team BMR cars.
“The long-run pace should be okay,” he said. “The temperature is going to be hot tomorrow, I think this is one of the best tracks for tyre deg[redation] although tyre deg on the front-wheel drives doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore so the tyre is so hard that it’s just going to stay good for everybody.
“We’ll be able to tune the car a little bit more for the race but I think we’ll have a good rhythm.
“A podium or better – that’s it [the aim].”