Rob Austin took a popular pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session for the seventh event of the 2013 British Touring Car Championship season at Knockhill, one which he feels he can convert into wins after a great day for the Audi driver.
Austin put together a track record-breaking lap of 52.471s in the second half of the 30-minute session, one that would not be touched as he beat Colin Turkington by a slender 0.047s gap for his and his WIX Racing team’s first ever BTCC pole position.
The result is also the first pole position for an Audi driver in BTCC since former series champion Frank Biela did so back in 1997 at Brands Hatch, and Austin is sure that he can go one step better by winning in Sunday’s races.
Talking to thecheckeredflag.co.uk after achieving the feat, Austin said: “It’s been brilliant. We’ve had some really hard times.
“It’s so nice to be able to repay everyone and the team after we lost our way a little bit; they’ve all stuck by me through it and I’d like to thank everyone and all my sponsors for being amazing sports, it’s really great to repay them.
“We’ve just got to try and convert it tomorrow now!”
The WIX Racing Audis started the day looking very strong as Austin had topped the morning’s first practice session, and following his pole position, feels confident that he can convert the result into wins on Sunday.
“Yep, definitely! This is British Touring Cars so anything can happen, and I certainly hope it turns out just as good a today.”
Enjoying the performance of the Audi at Knockhill so far, Austin concluded: “It’s coming really naturally which is wonderful, so I’m really, really confident for tomorrow.”
Austin’s team-mate Will Bratt meanwhile did not have the same level of enjoyment in the same session, a ride height check fail ending his qualifying early and meaning he starts on the back row of the grid much to his annoyance in the pits afterwards.
