WSR’s Charles Rainford was one the stars of Saturday as the British Touring Car Championship staged a thrilling inaugural ‘Qualifying Race’ at the challenging Donington Park circuit in the East Midlands.
Having survived a trip through the gravel at McLeans during qualifying, the Sussex racer celebrated the anniversary of his BTCC debut by putting his BMW 330i M Sport ninth on the grid on the 1.9-mile National layout at Donington.
He made a strong getaway to move into seventh and remained part of an ultra-close battle for the final podium spot for the majority of the 13-lap race, eventually reaching the chequered flag fifth.
Team-mate Daryl De Leon was another to make progress in the ‘Race to Pole’, having started 12th and dropped a spot early in the opening lap.
Gaining speed as the race reached its climax, the Anglo-Filipino driver cleverly watched two cars ahead of him make errors in the heat of battle and gleefully passed both in one move just four corners from the end of the race.
Tenth place was the 2025 Jack Sears Trophy champion’s reward; a result that looked set to put him on the fifth row of the grid for Race One on Sunday until a five-second penalty was applied post-race for a technical issue, dropping him to 17th.
Sunday’s race action begins 1130 with all three races broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK.
Charles Rainford said: “The Qualifying Race went pretty well… I made a good start, controlled things and came home in a good, solid, fifth place and most importantly, without any damage ahead of tomorrow’s three races, so a huge thanks to WSR for giving me a fast BMW that I could really race with. It’s gone quite well… I didn’t make the most of qualifying with a little off, but I enjoyed myself. We’ll go and review some data tonight to see if we can make a couple of tweaks to help us be even quicker tomorrow.”
Daryl De Leon said: “Day one of the season is done and it’s been pretty different to what I’ve been used to. We’ve had racing on a Saturday with the new Qualifying Race and I finished 10th, which is okay from 12th on the grid. It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse too. Tomorrow’s a new day, so the plan tonight is to analyse what went on and make some tweaks that can hopefully improve the BMW tomorrow. I can’t wait to go again…”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “I’m pretty pleased with the way the Qualifying Race went for us, because we were a little further back on the grid than I’d have hoped and we certainly had some gains to make. Both Charles and Daryl were hungry in battle and took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves at a track that traditionally suits front-wheel-drive cars more than us. Starting fifth and 10th tomorrow… we can certainly race from there.”
