Daryl DeLeon continued his excellent recent British Touring Car Championship qualifying form to put his WSR BMW 330i M Sport on the second row of the grid in a rain-affected session at Donington Park on Saturday.
The Anglo-Filipino racer added to his front-row start at Knockhill two weeks ago by qualifying fourth; a result that also made him the highest-placed Jack Sears Trophy driver in the field.
Cambridgeshire-based Daryl often found his path blocked by other cars during a hectic 10-minute Q2 session, but sourced enough clear track to put in an ultra-fast lap to promote him to the ‘Quick-Six’ pole shoot-out before increasing rain left the track unsuitable for his slick tyres.
Fellow WSR driver Jake Hill, driving the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW, was less fortunate as his two best laps were removed for exceeding track limits. His final flying lap was completed on a wetter track, meaning no chance for improvement.
The 2024 champion, who was a double-winner at Knockhill, will start the first of Sunday’s three races from 11th place on the grid.
LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR’s Charles Rainford, who is one point behind Daryl in the Jack Sears Trophy battle, could not repeat his Knockhill pole after experiencing an electrical glitch that left his BMW without any of the series’ ‘TOCA Turbo Boost’.
A pitstop to rectify the issue meant that he missed the drier part of the session, instead doing well to qualify eighth in his group on a totally wet track; a result that put him 15th on the grid.
His team-mate Aiden Moffat starts one spot behind; the Scottish racer being placed in a tough first group and agonisingly missing the cut for Q2 by just one tenth of a second as the first traces of rain fell at the end of the 10 minutes and prevented any improvements once his tyres were fully up to temperature.
The first of Sunday’s three races begins at 1130. All three will be broadcast live in the UK on ITV4 and globally (minus the UK and USA) on the BTCC YouTube channel.
Daryl DeLeon, WSR: “Today was pretty good and I’m really happy to qualify fourth and to make it into Q3 again. Q1 was dry until the rain came down, but I’d managed to get a lap in on slicks early so that was a big help. Slicks in the wet was really difficult in the wet Q2, but also fun. To end up on the second row was a really good result so thanks to the team for helping me to get a good qualifying spot for the first race tomorrow.”
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport: “Overall I’ve been fairly happy with the BMW and we have a really good balance in dry conditions, so that makes me pretty confident we can be fast in in the races tomorrow. Qualifying was mixed with a dry Q1 and a dry, then wet, Q2. I lost my best laptime so that means I’m near the bottom of the group. I’m a bit frustrated as I’m 99 per cent certain I did nothing wrong, but that’s touring car racing and we’ll come back tomorrow fighting forwards.”
Charles Rainford, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR: “Qualifying was a bit heartbreaking. After being in the top five in both practice session I was feeling good, but unfortunately I had an electrical issue while the track was dry in Q2, had to come in to have it fixed and when I went out it was wet, so that was a pretty tough pill to swallow.”
Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR: “It wasn’t a good day. The BMW felt great, but I was in the ‘group of death’ in qualifying so that didn’t work out for us. The car felt strong and I’m convinced I have a good race car; I was just in the wrong session. It could have been worse.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal: “We had a strong result for Daryl today, which shows his continued improvement across the season as that’s three top-10s in a row for him for the first time in the BTCC. The other drivers were generally unlucky with how the weather turned. If it had rained half an hour earlier, that could have favoured Aiden in Group 1, while Charles had the electrical issue and Jake had a wet track for his final lap and wasn’t able to improve as a result. Come rain or shine, we think we have a good car for Sunday so we still have high hopes of adding to our recent podiums.”
