Quotes from the fifth qualifying session of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season
Chris Smiley: “So yeah, FP1 to start off this morning. We’ve done all our homework, but we had a few issues. So, we only really got two flying laps in FP1. First, there was a boost issue and then we had a tyee that came off the bead in the rim. So yeah, a really, really strange thing to happen.
Because of the issues, we only had two flying laps in FP1, which was frustrating because the more laps you do, it saves time as the day goes on because you’re not always chasing your tail. FP2 basically was our FP1 and we still had to scrub some tyres at the start. We had a bit of a qualifying sim, but we didn’t use any new tyres in FP2 as we saved them for qualifying.
It looked like we’re in a pretty good place. The car felt good and in qualifying all our sectors were good, but we just didn’t string a lap together that was good enough to get us into Q2. It’s a bit frustrating, but I think it’s good for tomorrow with our race pace and overall, the pace was strong today. I just don’t think we showed it in qualifying.”
Scott Sumpton: “In FP1 and FP2 for me, it was just about building up and getting more and more confidence in the car. Really, I should be building up a little bit quicker I think, but it’s tricky around here, there isn’t much room for error. So, I was maybe driving on the cautious side, but then going into qualifying, I laid it all on the table and drove it as hard as I possibly could.
The fastest lap time that I did would have put me up there, it was a really, really quick lap, but, sadly it got removed because of track limits which I’m gutted about. But, it shows that I’m trying. I was pushing it as hard as possible, so we know we’ve got the time there when I keep it on the grey stuff.
So yeah, I’ve just got to send it tomorrow.”
Scott was unfortunate to have his best lap deleted due to track limits. Photography: JEP