Ronan Pearson was optimistic following the opening round of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park, even though a power steering issue blighted two of his three races.
The Scot demonstrated strong pace in Saturday’s new qualifying format, progressing from his qualifying group into Q2, and then on into the ‘quick six’ shootout.
There, Pearson was fifth fastest to record a career-best qualifying performance, giving him a third row starting position for Sunday’s opening race.
That first race came around two hours later than scheduled due to persistent morning rain, but when the action got underway, including after a lengthy safety car period, Pearson was able to hold his own to record a strong fifth-place finish, keeping pace with BMW’s Colin Turkington ahead.
In race two, Pearson dropped to sixth at the start and was running behind Turkington when a power steering issue struck on lap five, with the 22-year-old thus going off the road at Coppice and having to return to the pits.
With the issue resolved during the race, Pearson returned to the circuit and duly posted the fastest lap of the race and a new lap record, although he could only take the chequered flag in 17th and a lap down as a result.
From the penultimate row of the grid for race three, Pearson jumped three places at the start before his power steering issue recurred and he retired on lap four.
Despite the issues on race day, Pearson was buoyed by the strong single lap pace he showed on both qualifying and race day at the Leicestershire circuit.
“I could be downbeat after the way race day panned out, but I know that the problem we had was completely outside our control and if we put that to one side, it was incredible,” said Pearson.
“After pre-season testing, I felt confident we had a good car going into the weekend, but you never know what everyone else has been doing over the winter, so to come out in qualifying and score P5 on the grid was great; the car was mega.
“The rain delays were difficult on race day but when we finally got out there on track, I think I drove the best I have driven.
“I had so much confidence in the car and was leaving nothing on the table, and to be battling with someone like Colin Turkington because I was there on merit was an amazing feeling.
“Of course, it’s a shame that an issue then hampered us in races two and three, but even then I showed my pace with a fastest lap so there is so much I can take away from this weekend as we look towards the rest of the season.
“I genuinely feel I’m in a fantastic position to have a really strong year, and hopefully qualifying and the opening race this weekend is just the start.”