James Dorlin targeting the podium after second successive Q3 qualifying

Toyota’s James Dorlin is targeting a podium finish on race day after qualifying in fifth for the second successive British Touring Car Championship event at Oulton Park.

Dorlin was the top Toyota driver once again on Saturday, putting his Corolla in fifth for Sunday’s opening race after qualifying within six tenths of pole position.

The 26-year-old was delighted with his performance, and is hoping to use that to score a maiden podium on Sunday.

“I’m really happy to get into Q3 again,” said Dorlin to TouringCars.Net. “That’s two weekends in a row we’re starting P5. I did it in the wet last time and I’ve done it in the dry this time, which is good because we know now that we can do it in any conditions.

“The gap to the leaders is a lot closer as well – I think a tenth would have put us on the front row. I’m really happy and it just shows that all this learning and development we’re doing back at base is paying off – we’re closing that gap. There’s still more to come, but I’m really happy.”

Dorlin explained that the Speedworks Motorsport drivers have been working together to move forward, after a difficult start to the season, although Árón Taylor-Smith was the only other Toyota driver to get into Q2 and he ended up in 12^th.

“In FP1 we struggled a little bit on the front end, made a few changes and it seemed to pay off,” continued Dorlin.

“Everybody drives differently, so you have to change the setups to suit your driving style, but we’re all working together, and I just managed to pull the lap out in Q2 to get us through. I’m really happy but we’ll see what race day brings.

“In free practice the focus was on getting a good qualifying, because it’s always hard to overtake around Oulton Park.

“I’m happy with where we are, but I think we’ve got the pace to be on the podium.

“We’ve got more boost than the guys around us and we need that to keep up on the straights at the minute, but we’ll try to use that to our advantage and see what happens.

“We’re in the mix; we’ve got the pace so let’s see what we can do to try and get on that podium.”