Daryl De Leon was relieved to finish second in the British Touring Car Championship qualifying race at Brands Hatch, surviving early drama and a late scare to secure second place behind Ash Sutton.
“It was lively,” De Leon said. “That’s what the qualifying race is made to do!”
A feisty opening lap saw De Leon, starting alongside pole-sitter Tom Ingram, go for the lead immediately. Contact between the pair at Graham Hill bend a few corners later saw Ingram forced wide and opened the door for Sutton to slip past.
“To be honest, it all happened so fast,” explained De Leon. “I went for the lead; I was on the inside and didn’t see anything wrong with that.
“Ash then slipped up the inside and got past all of us. Ash really didn’t put a foot wrong, so fair play to him.”
From there, De Leon admitted every lap felt like qualifying, with Sutton not making mistakes and De Leon pushing to close the gap.
“I was pushing to try and catch Ash. I hope he wasn’t on a Sunday drive! It was a good race. Let’s just see what we can do tomorrow.”
The drama wasn’t over, however, as on the final lap, De Leon nearly threw it all away at Surtees corner.
“I heard the radio call: last lap. So I was like, right, Daryl, you’re winning this now. I carried more speed through Surtees, then as soon as I hit the brakes, I was like, uh oh, looked down, and I was in the wrong gear, all messed up.
“I just managed to keep it on the track. My left wheels were right up to the gravel. But I managed to keep second in front of Dan Cammish.”