Chris Smiley was in an optimistic mood after qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch – with the Restart Racing driver feeling that 11th on the grid means he is slightly ‘out of position’ for race day.
Having been sixth quickest in first practice before topping second practice outright, hopes were high for the Northern Irishman heading into qualifying.
However, despite progressing into Q2 with the sixth best time in his Q1 group, Smiley couldn’t match the pace he showed in FP2 and instead went two tenths of a second slower than he had done earlier in the day.
Smiley put the loss of time down to the ‘evolving’ track surface, and insisted he was optimistic ahead of race day.
“I’m not scratching my head because I know what’s changed,” explained Smiley to TouringCars.Net. “It’s a little bit frustrating because I looked at my time earlier and there was still a little bit left on the table – it wasn’t everything we had in FP2.
“It’s so close it just takes the track to change a little bit and the balance shifts in the car. That’s just the way it is around here as it’s so close.
“With the new surface here, it’s evolved all day; it’s gripped up the car a little bit more. Earlier on we were on the right balance of where we needed to be, we were just on the cusp of it being there, and the extra grip on the track now has just pushed us over that cusp from where we were earlier.
“That’s how close it is – it’s only a few small changes that make a big difference. If we were going to do qualifying again, I would make a few changes to the car. But ultimately our pace is still strong.”
Smiley hopes to build momentum on race day and end with some strong results, and admitted that his frustrations about being not fast enough in Q2 – a session he only progressed to three times in 2024 – were a sign of his and the team’s rapid progress.
“I don’t want to make excuses because I know we’re slightly out of position as to where we should be today – I think today we should have been in the top six somewhere.
“To be disappointed in our second weekend with a new car about not getting into the top six is encouraging.
“Sometimes you have a good start to the day and sometimes you have a good end to the day, and I think tomorrow we’re looking for the latter!”