Ricky Collard will start the penultimate Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship event of the year from the front row after he qualified a superb second at Silverstone.
Taking part in only his third BTCC event, the BMW Motorsport Junior showed excellent speed during the afternoon session, having improved his performance step-by-step from practice in an ultra-close session – in which 24 cars were covered by half a second.
Ricky Collard said: “I’m over the moon. To qualify second in only my third BTCC event is more than I ever could have expected. The team have done a fantastic job to improve the car in every session and we’ve moved up the timesheets from this morning through to qualifying and I’m so grateful to them for the job they’ve done. I’ve started well at more or less every race I’ve done this year, so if I can get off the line cleanly, I’ll be aiming to win and take some big points for Team BMW in the Teams’ Championship.
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “I’m very pleased for Ricky, who has done a very good job today. He’s been on a steep learning curve since his debut at Rockingham, but he’s coped with it maturely and this is the result. He’s been near the front all day and it’s very good for the Teams’ Championship to have him on the front row.