VX RACING ENDURE A DIFFICULT QUALIFYING SESSION AT THRUXTON

Team mates Yvan Muller and Gavin Smith suffered similar frustration and will start fifth and seventh respectively.

The three VX Racing drivers began the session in fine form with Turkington briefly heading the time sheets after the first flying lap.  The front row slots VX Racing has come to expect, however, were replaced with mid-field positions, which will challenge their driving skills and promises excellent racing for the spectators. 

The current BTCC champion team struggled to perfect the set-up of the VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch cars.  Muller's bid for pole was slowed as he carried 36 kilos of championship success ballast, a new introduction for 2005. Smith had a disrupted session with rare gear problems and failing to stop on the weighing scales, which resulted in his times up to that point being deleted.  Mid-way through the session the Irishman was under pressure to post a lap time which would move him off the bottom of the time sheets.

The qualifying results for VX Racing were perhaps more disappointing as all three drivers had fared well in the morning free practice sessions; Turkington was quickest in the first session with Muller finishing in third and Smith in ninth.  After concentrating on race set up in the second session, Turkington posted the fifth fastest time with Muller and Smith finishing sixth and ninth respectively.

Colin Turkington
"I'm reasonably happy with third place.  It's always nice to be on pole but it just didn't happen today.  We had big issues with under-steer.  If you have it, you try to deal with it for one flying lap, but it is always there.  We've got a different set-up for tomorrow – a good race balance, so we'll have to see what happens.  I think it is going to be hotter tomorrow, so whoever looks after their tyres will probably win."

Yvan Muller
"We also had a problem getting the right set-up for the tyres and the weight penalty certainly didn't help. The tyres we are using this weekend are specifically for Thruxton and are very different from the ones we usually use.  The solutions we tried today didn't work, but we are going to look at it and come back stronger tomorrow."

Gavin Smith
"My first flying lap was a second quicker than my fastest time from this morning and I was hoping for better, but on the second flying lap my gear stick went and I had to come in.  The team fixed the gears and put on a new set of tyres, but then I realised I had missed the weigh bridge and so had to come back in to weigh the car.  When I went out again the tyres were past their best so it was just unfortunate.  I'm happy that I went quicker than this morning and that I'm closer to Colin and Yvan on a circuit I don't know particularly well."      

The 2005 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship is the first year of competition for the VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch. This year VX Racing will be aiming to repeat the triple-title winning success of the past four years.

Qualifying results

1. Tom Chilton  Arena Motorsports 1 min 17.011 secs
2. Jason Plato  SEAT Sport UK 1 min 17.567 secs
3. Colin Turkington VX Racing  1 min 17.644 secs
  
5. Yvan Muller  VX Racing  1 min 17.812 secs
7. Gavin Smith  VX Racing  1 min 18.294 secs