![Ronan Pearson, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK [Speedworks Motorsport], Toyota Corolla GR Sport NGTC](https://www.touringcars.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Ronan-Pearson.jpg "Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography")
Ronan Pearson praised the handling of his Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corolla in Brands Hatch’s British Touring Car Championship races but lamented a lack of straight-line speed.
Like team-mate Gordon Shedden, Pearson says that the team is lacking in straight-line speed, which means that no matter how good the car is through the corners, it struggles for lap time overall.
The Scot was the only one of the Toyota quartet to get out of the same Q1 group they all found themselves in on Saturday at Brands Hatch, but even then Pearson was only able to manage tenth in Q2, just under three tenths from the pace in the session.
Wit the soft tyre on, Pearson dropped two places on the opening lap of race one, but ultimately took the finish in 11th after getting back ahead of Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley on the second lap.
Running as high as sixth in race two, Pearson ultimately found himself shuffled back down to tenth by the finish, albeit still as the top Toyota driver.
He thus missed out on the reverse-grid pole position for the final race of the day by just one place, leaving him to start in tenth on the less favourable hard tyre.
That rubber meant Pearson struggled to keep with the top half of the field, most of which were by now running soft tyres, and he fell to 17th at the finish.
The 23-year-old was full of praise for his car’s handling over the weekend, but like Gordon Shedden he feels the overall package is lacking in top-end speed.
“I cannot stress enough how good the Corolla’s chassis is – it’s honestly mega through the corners – but the simple fact is we’re losing out in a straight line, which makes everything so difficult,” said Pearson. “You can’t counteract that deficit through set-up changes alone.
“It was predictably tight in qualifying, but I was relatively pleased to make Q2 and then I gave it everything I had on Sunday as well.
“I had to pick my battles wisely, and I think we maximised our current potential on the soft tyre in races one and two.
“We were only ever going to go in one direction in race three; the hard tyre just never turned on and left us fighting massive understeer, making it a case of simply trying to finish unscathed.
“Big thanks to everybody in the team for working so hard again. I hugely appreciate everybody’s efforts and hope we can reward them with some better results soon.”