Tom Onslow-Cole recorded the best ever qualifying position for the Volkswagen Golf on his way to securing 6th place on the grid for the first race of the day at Thruxton in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Onslow-Cole managed to set a time of 1:18.122 which was just over a second slower than the pace set by Gordon Shedden but puts him alongside the 2010 Champion, Jason Plato.

Reflecting on his lap, Tom said to BTCC Crazy, “It’s fantastic to be back up towards the sharp end and it just rewards all the guys for all their hard work and effort they’re putting in to make the car work. We’ve said it all along that we’re in a development programme and the car is really developing which is good.”

Tom went on to say, “We knew in testing that we were around the top 10 mark and secretly I’d hoped to be in the top 6 and there we are. I’m chuffed to bits to have put it in P6 with just one lap. It’s fantastic.”

Tom, driving for the AmD Milltek Racing.com team this season after making the switch from Team Aon, didn’t end the session the way he would have liked but had tomorrow’s race in the back of his mind. An excursion off the circuit on the exit of Church meant that he would collect grass in the front scoop causing the engine to start to overheat. Tom decided to pull the car off the circuit and call it an end to the day and in doing so not damage the car for tomorrow’s race.

Photo Credit: Steven Knightley

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.