Charles Rainford wins pole position for BTCC race one at Snetterton

Credit: BTCC

Charles Rainford has won the race to pole at Snetteron, therefore he will start race one tomorrow from pole position.

The formation lap got underway as the hot temperatures continued to affect the tyre warming procedure across the long lap at Snetterton. The qualifying race was also only eight laps due to the length of the Snetterton circuit.

Team VERTU’s Nicolas Hamilton ground to halt before the start, but eventually got underway, allowing the race to begin. Tom Chilton got a good start from pole position, but WSR’s Charles Rainford attempted a brave move around the outside of turn one, but was unable to make the overtake.

Josh Cook remained in third, ahead of Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton. Rainford and Chilton continued to fight, with the BMW driver finally getting past midway through the lap. Chilton would fall down the order as Cook moved up to second. Meanwhile, Sutton moved past Chilton and Ingram down the back straight, following a three wide moment. Chilton would fall to sixth by the end of lap one.

Things then got worse for the pole sitter, as Chilton was awarded a five second time penalty for being out of position at the race start.

Credit: BTCC

Rainford stretched his margin out front ahead of Cook, who was also pulling away from Sutton in third. NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish began to put Ingram under pressure for fourth. Sutton then went straight on near the end of the lap, and then returned to pit lane with a suspected front left puncture. He would quickly rejoin, well down the order however.

Árón Taylor-Smith also entered the pits with a problem. The laps continued to fall as Rainford continued to lead ahead of Cook, as Sutton returned to pit lane. Taylor-Smith returned to the track in his Toyota to complete the final few laps.

Ricky Collard performed an impressive overtake round the outside of Gordon Shedden at the of the back straight, moving up to 13th. Cammish continued to put Ingram under pressure, for what was now the final podium position.

Credit: BTCC

A dominating drive from WSR’s Charles Rainford as he crossed the finish line first to win the race to pole and therefore take pole position for race one tomorrow. Cook and Ingram completed the podium, ahead of Cammish. Dan Rowbottom had a solid race to finish fifth, with Daryl DeLeon in sixth and the second Plato Racing Merdeces of Adam Morgan in seventh. The top ten was completed by Chilton, dropping down the order due to his time penalty, then came James Dorlin and Sam Osborne.

PMR’s Dexter Patterson followed in 11th, with Collard, Shedden, Chris Smiley and Mikey Doble behind. Then came Hamilton, Lewis Selby and Max Buxton. Aiden Moffat pulled off on the last lap, with Taylor-Smith and Sutton suffering problems throughout the race.

Race one is due to get underway tomorrow at 11:30 local time.