Aon Looking To Race Day After Mastering Conditions
Team Aon locked out the front row of the grid for the first of tomorrow’s three races and in the process secured the first all Ford front row in the BTCC for ten years.
The two drivers took advantage of the sunshine early on in the session by taking to the track immediately and setting their best times. Both drivers lapped the circuit in less than a minute and were the only men to do so in the entire session, with Tom Onslow-Cole getting the better of Tom Chilton by two tenths of a second.
Onslow-Cole was unsurprisingly delighted with pole position and said, “I’ve struggled a little in qualifying so far this year, other than at Oulton Park when we managed to convert pole into a Race One win. Other than there we’ve made it hard for ourselves, so to be starting from the front for this one is fantastic! It’s a great result for the team, our first ever one-two and it goes to show that we’re now reaping the rewards from the team’s hard work during the summer break.”
Chilton seemed equally happy and said, “The circuit was definitely quickest in the first five minutes of the session, after that it seemed to get a little greasier. Tom and I started our first runs together and I gave him a bit of tow down the straight. I went a little bit sideways through Copse on my first run and the times are so close that that was enough (to prevent him from taking pole). But it’s great for Team Aon; our first ever quali one-two!”
The team will be looking to convert this perfect qualifying result into maximum points but face intense pressure from the rest of the pack, something that team principal Mike Earle was keen to point out: “Our first one-two, but we aren’t getting carried away, the Chevrolets are right behind and they have a great race car, so it’s not a foregone conclusion. We benefited from getting out very early in the session when the track was at its optimum and the drivers worked together slipstreaming each other. Later in the session we couldn’t replicate our early pace and so it’s great the guys got in those quick laps right at the start.”
Thomas Surgay
