Pyro Motorsport’s Ollie Taylor says pole position would be “fantastic” but that he would be content with second place going into TCR UK qualifying at Castle Combe.
Taylor, who has five podiums to his name so far this season, topped the pre-event testing yesterday before finishing second behind Dan Lloyd in warm-up and practice earlier today [14 July].
He and Lewis Kent are the only drivers on the TCR UK grid this weekend who have previous experience of racing at the 1.85-mile Wiltshire circuit.
He told TouringCars.Net he feels like the advantage he would have will be nullified by qualifying, as his opponents will have had time to get up to speed.
“I’ve been to Castle Combe a couple of times a long time ago,” said Taylor. “I raced here in Caterhams and BMW, so I’ve been around here a couple of times.
“Not many of the others have so that was a little of an advantage to us I suppose. Yesterday in practice on Friday afternoon we were fastest by about four and a half tenths but everyone’s now getting back up to speed.
“But yeah it’s good – it’s an alright circuit – it’s not my favourite by any means, it’s quite challenging and quite scary at times. But yeah it’s good hopefully we can get a good crowd and some interesting racing.”
When asked about qualifying expectations, Taylor said he feels he has closed the gap to championship leader Dan Lloyd, but says that he would not be “too upset” with P2.
“It’s got to be top two but really I’d like to be P1,” he said. “If we can get P1 that’d be fantastic – Dan has obviously showed how quick he is, but I think we’ve closed the gap up a little bit to him.
“We’ll never know until the chequered flag comes out in qualifying, I’d love to be on pole, as everyone would.
“But I’m confident at the starts, so if we find ourselves P2 then I’m not going to be too upset about that. And then just hopefully have another good start in the race tomorrow and try to get in front of him.”
Should he qualify second on the grid, Taylor feels he can challenge Lloyd, who has won each race so far this season.
Race craft: “I think when you get to the level that Dan is at, and before we go racing tomorrow he’s done four sessions out on circuit. So I’m sure he’ll get himself up to speed pretty quickly.
“But it’s quite a hard track to overtake at I would say – you can defend quite easily. But I’ve not raced these sort of cars before on this circuit. They’re quite big these cars on this circuit, because it’s not very wide.
“So hopefully getting in front of him and defend.”