Qualifying report
BTCC Thruxton
Thruxton BTCC: Tordoff on pole as Blundell and Chilton collide
Sam Tordoff scored AmD Tuning’s first pole position in the BTCC, pulling out a narrow 0.030s advantage with just three seconds of Thruxton qualifying remaining.
Matt Kew
Edited: May 18, 2019, 3:30 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Tordoff had only been 15th in the dry second free practice session after focusing on race set-up, but in the dying moments of qualifying he posted a 1m15.511s time to set a new lap record and usurp practice pacesetter Dan Cammish.
In the first dry qualifying run of the season, and on the new hard compound tyres, rear-wheel-drive runners set the early pace as Andrew Jordan went fastest.
Matt Neal had ended last month’s Thruxton test in second but was an early casualty as he suffered a spin on his first flying lap through the high-speed Church corner.
But then front-wheel-drive runners Jake Hill and Tom Ingram came to the fore, going fastest as Jordan and teammate Colin Turkington were the first to lose their times to track limits abuse.
As Matt Simpson was another spinner at Church, testing pacesetter Cammish topped the times before Rory Butcher’s 1m15.724s put his older shape Honda ahead.
Butcher’s effort in the FK2 model remained unmatched for some time as the concurrent sequence of flying laps ended.
But on fresh rubber, Turkington found 0.07s in his BMW to head the way. Butcher did respond immediately but was another casualty of track limits offences and so lost his time.
After missing out races two and three at Donington Park having been hospitalised, Jordan was in fine form and pulled out 0.06s on his WSR teammate to sit first heading in to the closing minutes of the session.
But proceedings were halted by a lengthy red flag when ex-Formula 1 driver Mark Blundell and Tom Chilton came to blows at the chicane, which left Chilton’s Ford wedged into the tyre wall and the barriers needing repairs.
Jordan remained on provisional pole after a final five-minute shootout got underway, and it looked like he would remain unchallenged until Cammish returned to the top with two minutes to go.
But crossing the line with just three seconds on the clock, pre-season pacesetter Tordoff moved to the top to secure his team's first ever series pole.
Behind Cammish and Jordan, Turkington ended the day fourth from Butcher and Jason Plato's Vauxhall.
Ashley Sutton was seventh ahead of Neal, Rob Collard and third WSR driver Tom Oliphant.
Qualifying results:
Cla
Driver
Car
Time
Gap
1
Sam Tordoff
Honda
1'15.511
2
Dan Cammish
Honda
1'15.541
0.030
3
Andrew Jordan
BMW
1'15.648
0.137
4
Colin Turkington
BMW
1'15.654
0.143
5
Rory Butcher
Honda
1'15.724
0.213
6
Jason Plato
Vauxhall
1'15.943
0.432
7
Ash Sutton
Subaru
1'15.986
0.475
8
Matt Neal
Honda
1'15.989
0.478
9
Rob Collard
Vauxhall
1'16.039
0.528
10
Tom Oliphant
BMW
1'16.043
0.532
11
Josh Cook
Honda
1'16.098
0.587
12
Stephen Jelley
BMW
1'16.199
0.688
13
Jake Hill
Audi
1'16.206
0.695
14
Tom Ingram
Toyota
1'16.286
0.775
15
Chris Smiley
Honda
1'16.339
0.828
16
Aiden Moffat
Mercedes
1'16.428
0.917
17
Matt Simpson
Honda
1'16.456
0.945
18
Adam Morgan
Mercedes
1'16.485
0.974
19
Ollie Jackson
Ford
1'16.493
0.982
20
Senna Proctor
Subaru
1'16.503
0.992
21
Daniel Rowbottom
Mercedes
1'16.779
1.268
22
Tom Chilton
Ford
1'17.000
1.489
23
Jack Goff
Volkswagen
1'17.168
1.657
24
Nicolas Hamilton
Ford
1'17.310
1.799
25
Bobby Thompson
Volkswagen
1'17.379
1.868
26
Rob Smith
MG
1'17.797
2.286
27
Michael Crees
Volkswagen
1'18.750
3.239
28
Sam Osborne
MG
1'18.847
3.336
29
Carl Boardley
Volkswagen
1'19.276
3.765
30
Mark Blundell
Audi
1'22.556
7.045
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Zolder W Series: Visser takes commanding win over Chadwick
Next article Crutchlow: "Stupid rule" deciding Q2 spots not liked by riders
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Matt Kew
Marko suggests Perez's improved F1 form because 2025 contract at stake
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Marko suggests Perez's improved F1 form because 2025 contract at stake
Russell explains how low-fuel runs expose Mercedes F1 inconsistency
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Russell explains how low-fuel runs expose Mercedes F1 inconsistency
Leclerc: No answer for "once in a season" Japan F1 qualifying struggle
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Leclerc: No answer for "once in a season" Japan F1 qualifying struggle
Latest news
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Brazilian GP
32 min
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
Marc Marquez's mind games with Jorge Martin: "If you're fast, you don't need team orders"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Marc Marquez's mind games with Jorge Martin: "If you're fast, you don't need team orders"
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe