Team BMWs’ Rob Collard was disappointed to only manage 22nd in BTCC qualifying at Silverstone, with the title protagonist enduring his worst qualifying session of the season as a result.
Collard remains in contention for the overall title, but after the previous round he has fallen to 56 points adrift of leader Ash Sutton.
The BMW driver therefore faces an uphill task on Saturday to close the gap to Sutton, who put his car in tenth on the grid ahead of Collard.
“I’m very disappointed with qualifying,” said Collard, who also struggled in qualifying at the circuit in 2016, to TouringCars.Net. “We were P4 and P7 this morning in FP1 and FP2, so be down in 22nd is a horrible feeling.
“The car just felt a little bit different when we went out for qualifying with new tyres on. It’s all about trying to get a decent slip stream here and I just didn’t quite perfect that.
“It’s so close – a tenth of a second would have put me inside the top ten.”
Rob explained that the cold temperatures and recent rain at the Northamptonshire track didn’t help either.
“With a low track temperature and it being a little bit wet and greasy this morning hasn’t helped. The track is constantly changing and it’s not helping.
“The plan tomorrow is a charge really hard from the back. I think we have a very good race car. I was doing cracking lap times out there consistently on my own.
“From a race point of view, I think we’re in good shape but starting 22nd is going to make it a difficult day.”