Daryl De Leon will start the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch from the front row of the grid after scoring WSR’s best Qualifying Race result to date on Saturday.
The Anglo-Filipino, who scored his first BTCC victory on the 1.2-mile Indy Circuit last year, was in imperious form as he set the practice pace aboard his BMW 330i M Sport.
He converted that into third place in qualifying; the Cambridgeshire-based 20-year-old just 0.105s away from pole position and then charging hard through the 18-lap Qualifying Race to finish an excellent second after some bruising wheel-to-wheel racing early on.
His result was the best yet for WSR in a Qualifying Race and Daryl’s best performance of the season so far.
Team-mate Charles Rainford, who began the day second in the Drivers’ points table, showed strong pace in practice, lapping less than 0.3s behind Daryl, despite his lofty championship position meaning his BMW was carrying severe turbo restrictions.
Emerging from the slower of the two qualifying groups, he started the Qualifying Race 10th, but climbed to sixth by the end of the opening lap, only to be hit hard up the rear next time around exiting the Druids hairpin.
As he corrected the resultant slide, he was hit again and forced into another car; the Sussex racer dropping to the tail of the field and recovering to 16th – where he will start Race One – by the chequered flag.
Sunday’s race action begins 1130 with all three races broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK.
Daryl De Leon: “It’s been a good day and I’m pretty happy with how everything’s gone. I ended the only practice session fastest and then took second in my qualifying group, which put me third overall. I got into the lead of the Qualifying Race briefly but settled for second, so that means I’m starting from the front row tomorrow. I’m planning to get my elbows out and to hopefully have a great day of racing.”
Charles Rainford: “I said at Donington that I liked the Qualifying Race, because it worked out well for me, but today, not so much. I gave out an apple and got a lemon back, almost getting turned right around on the second lap. I was very happy with the pace in qualifying as I was close to my team-mate, despite having only three seconds of Toca Turbo Boost, so I think we did a good job. Then 10th to sixth in the race before I was almost spun around at the exit of Druids, which was a hard pill to swallow, but we’ll go again tomorrow and I know WSR will give me a fantastic race car.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal: “If you looked up ‘mixed day’ in a dictionary, it would be today. Daryl’s performance all day was fantastic and he made the most of the boost situation to go fastest in practice and stay in the top three all day, even though others had better straight-line speed. Charles was desperately unlucky to be hit by several cars early in the race and forced off the track. Race One will be tough for him, but once the boost situation is re-set for Race Two, he should be able to come through the field pretty well.”
