NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Rowbottom put together a stellar lap of a 1 minute 7.598 seconds around the Donington Park National circuit. Not only did he get pole, but his NAPA Racing Ford team-mate Ash Sutton locked out the front row after getting a lap deleted that would have seen him take pole.
Rowbottom was not stunned by this and is happy for the team as a whole. “It’s a great day all in, we’ve been quick all day, all three of us,” said Rowbottom to TouringCars.Net. “I think it was on the cards for one of us to take pole for sure.
“I’m just pleased it was me. Ash obviously had a lap deleted for track limits, which is a massive shame because obviously we’ve got these new track limit regulations that MSUK have brought in.
“It’s very difficult to police if I’m honest with you, so whether he’d have lost that lap traditionally remains to be seen.
“So it’s a bit gutting for him. Obviously it benefits me. We maybe had half a tenth, maybe a full tenth in it, but looking at his lap I’m not sure we could have matched it realistically. So it is what it is, but at the end of the day we came out on top, so it’s great.”
Not only was it a front row performance for the Motorbase team, the team also had Dan Cammish qualify in fifth. What was even more impressive was that in the first qualifying session three of the team’s four cars were at the top of the timesheet.
“Obviously we all want to win, but we’ve got to think of the team, we’ve got to think of NAPA Racing UK.
“They made a big investment in motorsport this year, especially running the four touring cars. We’ve obviously got all the other title sponsors that come with that as well that we’ve got to look after, so hopefully we all stay sensible and have a good day.”