Dan Rowbottom pleased to back up practice pace

Dan Rowbottom insisted he was pleased to back up the practice pace shown by the Honda Civic Type R after snaring a second pole of the BTCC season at Thruxton.

After Josh Cook and Gordon Shedden paced the two practice sessions earlier in the day, Rowbottom emerged as the man to beat in qualifying as he overcame the challenge of Jake Hill’s Ford Focus to earn his place at the head of the pack.

Rowbottom had earlier lapped inside the top ten in both practice sessions despite suffering with a migraine but edged out Hill by just 0.086s and will now look to convert it into a strong haul of points on race day.

“It was clear from practice that the Honda was quick and we knew we were strong here earlier in the season,” he said. “Even though I wasn’t feeling great with a migraine in practice, a good dose of painkillers did the job ahead of qualifying and I was able to get the job done.

“It’s so close here that you have only really have two laps in which to get the time in, and we managed to get the lap when it mattered – which is fantastic.

“I think we can looking forward to a great race day, and we have to try and get our head down and see how we do. We need to score big points after a tough Knockhill and get back to where we were at Oulton Park.”