Simpson 'encouraged' after blistering maiden pole

Matt Simpson has taken a great deal of encouragement from his maiden British Touring Car Championship pole position as the Honda driver seeks to reach the podium for the first time at Oulton Park.

The Honda Civic Type-R driver romped to a first ever BTCC pole after qualifying almost a quarter-of-a-second ahead of Motorbase Performance's Sam Tordoff in second position.

"We obviously shown our pace in FP2. We put a 1 minute 25 in and the car felt really good. We didn’t make any changes throughout the day yesterday," Simpson told Crash.net.

"I wanted to try and get another 25 in before the second set of tyres as I thought the track would get slower as the temperature rose. I was over moon that we put the time in so hopefully we can convert it to a podium today.

"It’s never over until the chequered flag comes out and everyone has crossed the line. Anything can happen in touring cars as the times are so close. So to be a quarter of a second up the road is really pleasing and encouraging for today."

Along with starting at the front of the grid, Simpson also has the added bonus of attacking the opening encounter with the preferred the option tyre after electing to use the softer compound for the first race.

Nevertheless, Simpson is mindful of the threat both Motorbase Performance Fords and Andrew Jordan's BMW carry behind in second, third and fourth.

"I chose that the option tyre [for race one] because if you had a bad qualifying it’s going to be a bonus because you’ll move forward. If you have a good qualifying you can obviously convert it to a podium. It’s a no brainer," Simpson continued.

"Jack’s [Goff] the first car with weight in sixth. Sam’s [Tordoff] is around the outside of me and also on the soft tyre. It’s just going to be case of getting to Knickerbrook in the lead. Hopefully we can get our head down and get some air between us.

"There’s not that much of a run to turn one so that’s probably going to help us as well. If he [Jordan] gets the jump, he gets the jump. Obviously with a RWD, I don’t think his tyres will be quite in on the front."