Jack Goff is predicting that holding on to the lead at the start of the first British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch will be tricky due to starting on the ‘less favourable’ side of the circuit.
Goff was in dominant form once again in the twice-interrupted session, consistently putting in times to keep him at the top of the timesheets to notch up his third pole position of the season.
The Eurotech Racing driver admitted afterwards, however, that the changeable weather conditions, with light rain briefly falling at the start, followed by two stoppages, meant that the team had to change their approach to qualifying part-way through the session.
“The rain was the worst nightmare for us, because we knew our car was pretty strong in dry conditions,” said Goff to TouringCars.Net. “If you’re 20th in second practice then changeable conditions might help you – but being strong in the dry conditions, we wanted it to be nice, plain sailing and simple and get out there to execute our plan.
“That then all went out of the window before we did one lap, so we had to refocus, change our plan and try and do it when it counted.”
Although Goff has pole, he predicts that holding on to the lead at the start of race one will be a challenge, in part because he will head into Turn 1 from the outside of the circuit and also because he has the rear-wheel drive Subaru of Ash Sutton starting directly behind him from third.
“Weirdly, being P2 on the grid is actually better here. We’re starting from P1, and to make it even worse I’ve got a rear-wheel drive car behind me, which doesn’t make it any easier. It’s going to be tricky but we need to make sure we do the best job we can.
“In theory, if I was in his [Sutton’s] position, I’d be trying to consolidate points, but he’s already shown this year that he can be in full-on attack mode.
“I want to win races as does Aiden, so I need to get my head down and go out there and make sure I do the best job I can, turn pole into a win and hopefully another podium in race two.”
Goff has a strong track record at Brands Hatch on the Grand Prix circuit – the 26-year-old took his maiden podium in the 2013 season finale, and he has been on the podium four times in total at the Kent circuit in the BTCC.
“It’s been a track that’s been kind to me,” added Goff. “I love it – I’d say most drivers on the grid love the GP circuit. It’s a really ballsy part of the track, but it’s also really enjoyable as well. It’s fast, flowing with blind corners – it’s good and it’s those sort of corners where the Type R really comes into its own and makes it even more enjoyable from my side.”