DeLeon earns first BTCC pole at Silverstone

Darryl DeLeon secured his first pole position in the British Touring Championship in changeable conditions at Silverstone.

The West Surrey Racing BMW driver left it late to set the fastest time in qualifying, putting in a 1m02.218s to out do Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s Gordon Shedden, his team enjoying an upturn in performance with the improved driveability of the TOCA-supplied M-Sport Engine replacing their usual Neil Brown units in three of the team’s four cars.

Jake Hill was third, despite spinning at Copse in the closing part of the session, he was 0.212s off his teammates table-topping time, with Daniel Lloyd going fourth-quickest in his Restart Racing Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance.

Josh Cook ensured there were two Toyota Corollas in the top six with fifth, with Senna Proctor rounding out the Q3 protagonists in sixth.

Neither of the two championship leaders, Tom Ingram nor Ash Sutton, made it to the top-six shootout, both hampered with a lack of TOCA Turbo Boost by virtue of their championship positions.

Ford Focus ST driver Sutton did make it to Q2, but spent the entire session languishing in 12, behind his NAPA Racing UK teammate Daniel Rowbotton, the WSR pair of Aiden Moffat and Charles Rainford, Aron Taylor-Smith, and Mikey Doble, but Ingram couldn’t even make it out of the first part of qualifying, marking the first time he hasn’t progressed from Q1 all season.

Rainford had topped the first group in Q1 ahead of Hill, Doble, Sutton, Proctor and Cook, with Adam Morgan, Chirs Smiley, and Nic Hamilton all failing to advance. Dan Cammish and Tom Chilton also faced early exits after both failing ride height checks.

In the second Q1 group, topped by Moffat from Lloyd, DeLeon, Shedden, Taylor-Smith, and Rowbottom, Ingram missed out on advancing by finishing seventh, ahead of Max Buxton – the only Toyota driver still running with the old engine – Dexter Patterson, Sam Osborne, and Nick Halstead.

Alongside polesitter DeLeon, Shedden's second place was his first top-two qualifying result since 2021, when he took pole at Donington for Team Dynamics Honda.

Fellow Q3 participants Hill, Lloyd, Cook, and Proctor will line up next, ahead of Rowbottom, Moffat, Rainford, Taylor-Smith, Doble, and Sutton. Morgan splits the two title rivals in 13th, with Ingram 14th – his previous lowest grid position of the year being fourth – Smiley will line up 15th, ahead of Buxton, Hamilton and Patterson.

Chilton will start 19th, ahead of Sam Osborne, with Cammish and Halstead occupying the back row of the grid.

All three races will be broadcast live on RACER Network on Sunday, Sept. 21, with Race 1 at 6:30am ET, Race 2 at 9:30am ET, and Race 3 at 12pm ET.

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