Rob Austin ended the second of the free practice sessions with a time good enough for seventh fastest as we head into the qualifying for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Croft.

During the session Austin was as highest as 2nd at times in his full-NGTC specification Audi A4 but ended the session in seventh just 1.222s off the pace of Collard who set the fastest time of the session.

“We had wets on the car at first but it was too dry for wets and too wet for slicks. Once we put the slicks on then that’s when we started to put in the times,” said Rob Austin. “The car is getting better. We’ve upgraded the car but we’re expecting our big upgrade to come in the break before Snetterton so we’ve still got a lot to come.”

He went on to say, “I’m not going to get my hopes up from the second session as the weather conditions were very interesting but I’ve never lacked in bravery.”

Heading into qualifying the Worcestershire based driver is hopeful of improving on his best qualifying performance so far which is 20th. “The car’s working better and we’re hopeful that we can qualify in the top 10. Even if we’re 10th we’ll be over the moon.”

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

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.