Aiden Moffat admitted that securing his first outright British Touring Car Championship pole at Croft was a ‘special moment’ as he edged out Jake Hill for the top spot.
Moffat, who is starting his 229th BTCC race on Sunday, pipped MB Motorsport’s Hill to the fastest lap by just 0.040 seconds in a dry session on Saturday afternoon.
It marks the first time the Laser Tools Racing driver has claimed a pole position in the series, excluding reverse grid poles, and he did so with a ballast-free Infiniti at the North Yorkshire circuit.
Joking that it had taken him since his BTCC début in 2013 to finally secure a pole, Moffat put his success down to immediately feeling comfortable in his car on Saturday.
“It’s taken some waiting, hasn’t it,” joked Moffat. “I’ve been here since 2013 and that’s the first time, so it’s special – it’s a special moment.
“We’ve had good pace this year and I want to thank Team HARD, Laser Tools Racing and the BMR Engineering boys, my engineer Dan [Millard] and even Ash Sutton with the help he gives me, so it’s nice to get that long awaited pole position.
“I find it easy to chase the car a lot, whereas today I felt confident with the car they gave me. It’s just about not chasing the car but working on myself and not overdriving the car. I should have tried that six years ago – I’ve wasted a bit of time!
“The guys gave me a great car so I could just focus on myself and the driving and the technical stuff, and that’s what made the difference.”
Moffat is confident for Sunday’s trio of races, as he believes his rear-wheel drive car will manage its tyres well around the circuit which has always been a strong venue for rear-wheel drive machinery.
“We know that we’ve got a good car. It took us quite a few laps before we had the ultimate pace, so we know it will be good for the races and it holds the tyres well.
“I think we’ve got a good race car under us as much as a good qualifying car.”