Mikey Doble said that claiming his maiden British Touring Car Championship pole position at Silverstone was a ‘special moment’ after also securing Power Maxed Racing’s first pole in four years.
The Northamptonshire circuit was already known as a track where the team’s Vauxhall Astra had gone well, with its last pole position in the championship coming with Jason Plato at Silverstone in 2019.
Going into qualifying, things looked good, as Andrew Watson had earlier headed Árón Taylor-Smith in a 1-2 result for the team in second practice, with Doble also up there in seventh.
In the first part of qualifying, both Taylor-Smith and Doble comfortably made it into Q2, and although Watson didn’t make the cut, he was still in a reasonable 12th, just a tenth and a half of a second off the pace.
But it was Doble who shone in Q2, quickly setting the fastest lap of 57.599 seconds to become the first non-NAPA Racing UK driver to claim a pole position this season, a mere 0.012 seconds ahead of BMW’s Colin Turkington.
Taylor-Smith was a quarter of a second behind his team-mate in eighth.
“I can’t believe we’ve got pole position,” said Doble. “To achieve this, in my rookie season around somewhere like Silverstone is a special moment.
“It’s nice to also be the person to end NAPA Racing’s incredible pole streak. I couldn’t be happier for everybody else who’s involved in this – the team at CarStore Power Maxed Racing, my sponsors, my family.
“It’ll be an experience starting up front tomorrow with Colin Turkington alongside, let’s see what we can do.”
Team Principal Adam Weaver pointed to the car’s form at the circuit in the past as a reason why not to be surprised that the oldest car on the grid had claimed pole.
“Silverstone has always been a happy hunting ground for the team, and for the Vauxhall Astra, so it perhaps shouldn’t be as surprising as perhaps it is that we’re up there and in the mix,” said Weaver.
“All three drivers drove brilliantly, but of course Mikey deserves a special mention for his maiden pole. To beat most of the championship contenders to pole is no mean feat, and he’s delivered the perfect lap there.
“This is by far our busiest weekend of the year with guests and partners, so it was a fitting way to kick things off, and hopefully we’ll all be able to share in more success tomorrow.”