Charles Rainford on pole as BMWs dominate in Knockhill qualifying

Charles Rainford continued his impressive rookie season as he took his first British Touring Car Championship career pole at Knockilll, after taking his first win earlier this season at Brands Hatch.

The WSR driver set the important lap in the final part of qualifying with a time of 50.673 seconds to take pole position. He beat teammate Daryl Deleon to pole by just 0.013 seconds, with Deleon looking the favourite throughout Q1 and Q2. The top three was rounded out by the third BMW driver, Laser Tools Racing’s reigning champion Jake Hill, who was 0.187 seconds off of pole.

NAPA Racing’s Daniel Rowbottom was the closest front wheel drive car to the dominant BMWs, initially finishing fourth.

However, the Ford racer was later disqualified from the results for failing the post-session weight check, leaving the Kidderminster racer to start from the back of the grid for the opening encounter on Sunday.

Championship leader Tom Ingram was fifth, whilst his Team Vertu teammate Senna Proctor completed the ‘Quick Six’ order, Proctor struggling with track limits in the final part of qualifying and not managing to set a competitive lap time.

Neither of Rowbottom’s NAPA teammates made it into Q3 with Dan Cammish missing out in seventh, later becoming sixth when Rowbottom was thrown out, and Ash Sutton struggling down in tenth, 0.165 seconds off a spot in Q3. Sutton had a scary moment late on at the exit of the chicane, running wide through the gravel.

Arón Taylor Smith, who has looked on pace all weekend managed to qualify seventh as the leading Toyota. Behind the Irishman was lead independent Chris Smiley for Restart Racing, and lead Scotsman Aiden Moffat in ninth in the last of the BMWs, whilst NAPA’s Sutton completed the top ten ahead of team-mate Sam Osborne completing the Q2 order in 11th.

Tom Chilton struggled in his Team Vertu Hyundai, finishing ninth in his group in Q1, leaving him 16th on the grid for race one. Power Maxed Racing finished eighth and 11th in their respective groups for Mikey Doble, who had a late spin at the exit of the chicane, and Nick Halstead. It was PMR’s first qualifying session with their loaned CUPRAs.

Home favourite Gordon Shedden struggled, finishing ninth in his group after missing the majority of free practice two and putting the Scot in 17th for the first race.

Race one is scheduled for 11:25 BST on Sunday.

‘Quick Six’ results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	99		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	10	50.673	–
2	2		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	11	50.686	0.013
3	1		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	11	50.860	0.187
4	80		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	9	51.143	0.470
5	18		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	11	53.764	3.091

Drivers failing to progress from Q2

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
6	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	9	50.998	0.258
7	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	51.022	0.282
8	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	10	51.051	0.311
9	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	11	51.084	0.344
10	116		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	9	51.103	0.363
11	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	10	51.300	0.560

Drivers failing to progress from Q1

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
12	123		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	10	51.165	0.476
13	33		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	10	51.170	0.286
14	132		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	51.270	0.581
15	88		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	CUPRA Leon	10	51.198	0.314
16	3		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	10	51.347	0.658
17	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	51.482	0.598
18	17		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	10	51.377	0.688
19	19		Max BUXTON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	51.716	0.832
20	50		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	CUPRA Leon	9	52.748	2.059
21	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	10	52.309	1.425
22	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	10	Disallowed	0.317*

* Gap relative to fastest lap in Q3.