Tom Onslow-Cole will start from the third row of the grid for the first of three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Croft tomorrow. The 20 year-old Team RAC driver posted the sixth quickest time around the 2.127mile North Yorkshire track in his West Surrey Racing-prepared BMW 320si but admitted to overdriving as he bids for his maiden BTCC race win.

“As always, it’s a little bit frustrating that I haven’t quite nailed qualifying so far this year, said Tom. “Testing went really well earlier and I think looking at the data after the session, I simply overdrove it, I got a little bit too excited I think. This is the hardest I’ve pushed in the car though, I’ve got the confidence with it now and I think maybe I just pushed a little bit too much so it’s just a case of backing myself off.

“To finish on the podium in the first race would be good, but I’m still hunting down that first win. I’ve already had a second place and anything higher than that is my aim, so only first will do. It does still look possible this weekend, if I can improve in the first race and get on the podium then a win is definitely a possibility. The second place I had came from eighth on the grid and this is BTCC where anything can happen.

“The car was great, but obviously when you push too hard, that translates into the car not handling as I would have expected, but it’s literally driver input, it’s only a slight thing, but it’s a little bit everywhere and that knocks you down the grid a lot over a whole lap, especially at Croft which is a long lap.”

Today’s qualifying gives the grid for tomorrow’s first 15 lap race, which is scheduled to start at 12.00. The finishing positions from that race, will give the grid for race two, which will take place at 14.35 and the third round grid is decided by the finishing order of the second race but with the leading positions reversed. The number of positions to be reversed becomes known only after race two when a random number between six and ten will be drawn to decide the order for the race which starts at 16.50.