This is the process that decides who starts first in the race. It sounds like there are multiple qualifying steps, so drivers have to earn pole through more than one stage.
FP1 is the first practice session before qualifying and the race. If a team changes the engine after FP1, it’s usually because something needed fixing or replacing, and it can shake up the weekend.
After a certain qualifying stage, the rules limit what teams can change on the car. The idea is to keep things fair—teams can only replace parts that are essentially the same, and officials check them.
A soft tyre grips the road better than harder tyres, but it tends to wear out sooner. Using it at the start is often about getting strong traction right away.
A late move means the driver waits until the last moment to try to pass or squeeze into a gap. It’s risky because there’s less time to adjust if something goes wrong.
The track rod end is a small steering part that helps connect the steering to the front wheels. If it gets hit or bent, the steering can feel wrong and the car may not handle as well.
Suspension is what connects the wheels to the car and helps them grip the road. If it’s knocked, the car can bounce or handle differently, and that can slow you down.
The Ford Edge is a family-sized SUV that’s meant for normal road driving. It’s designed to carry people and luggage comfortably. In the podcast context, it sounds like the word “edge” is being used for a track location, not necessarily about a special racing version of the car.
In a tight pack, one car’s braking or a small mistake can make the cars behind react too. That can cause a wave of slowing and bunching up, which then knocks people out of position.
It means they were fighting around 10th place—either just inside it or just outside it. That’s usually a big deal because it’s near the points positions.
The exhaust manifold is the engine part that gathers exhaust gases from the cylinders and sends them down the exhaust. Different designs can change how the engine breathes and responds.
This segment ties on-track incidents to specific Brands Hatch corners/areas—Graham Hill and Druids—while discussing whether moves were teammate-friendly or overly aggressive. It also connects the puncture timing to the “ultimate lap” and race progression.
A “dive bomb” is when a driver brakes really late and goes for the overtake right at the last moment. It’s exciting, but it can be risky if there isn’t enough room.
A puncture is when a tire gets damaged and goes flat. In a race, it usually means the driver loses a lot of time and position because the car can’t keep going normally.
The pit lane is the area next to the track where the team can work on the car. If the driver can reach it, they can usually fix something small—like changing tires—and go back out.
The Ford Mustang is a sports car made for performance and driving fun. It’s known for having strong acceleration and a driver-focused feel. In the podcast, it’s likely being mentioned because someone’s chances or expectations for competition are being discussed.
Track limits are the official boundaries of the track. If you go past them, your lap can be penalized or disallowed, so drivers try not to cross the line.
“Pits” is where the team stops the car during the race for things like tire changes or repairs. If you have to pit, you usually lose time compared with cars that stay out.
“Boost” is extra power the race car can use for a short time. If it’s limited to “one second” and “per lap,” the driver can only turn that extra power on briefly each lap.
Term
real drive
“Real drive” sounds like the car’s actual usable acceleration/traction when it’s not limited. The point is that De Leon should be able to get going strongly after the start.
Topic
race strategy for race one (aggressive vs points)
They’re talking about how to race tomorrow—go for big moves right away or play it safer to secure points. The best approach depends on how the start goes.
LIVE
The self-proclaimed third coming takes the win in the qualifying to pole.
Hello and welcome back to the British Touring Car Polecast. You might notice we are somewhere
different. We are. We are down in Kent in our accommodation before attending the race
track tomorrow.
Be very careful how you pronounce that for YouTube.
Yes, yes, definitely. And we've just looked back and watched the race to pole. We haven't
seen qualifying for the qualifying part of the race to pole. That makes sense. We're
travelling down at the time, but we don't feel like we missed out on too much, do we?
No, not at all. I just noticed a massive crack in the glass. Good to see.
So, yeah, taking the pole for the race to pole, if that makes sense, was Ingram.
If it does, please write in.
From Ingram, from Carrish and Deleon, with Sutton starting in fifth. It's a fairly regular
grid. There weren't any major surprises or anything like that.
Dorling was fairly low down following not much, sort of like testing time this morning from
having an engine change after FP1 and Moffitt was quite low, considering where the other
two Audi's were as well.
And a quick reminder as well is that once you have done the first part of qualifying,
you can make no changes to the car that affect performance or setup, etc. You can only swap
like-for-like components with Mr. Rich's or another of the toky delegates breathing down
your neck and inspecting each piece to make sure. So, if you have got yourself in a bit of a pickle
with the setup, you are stuck with that until Sunday morning.
Yeah, there's always that worry of if you do pick up some sort of damage or a knock on a curve
or something throughout that session that you might then struggle in the race, but it didn't
appear to see that anyone had any difficulties and they would all go on to start the race to
pole on the soft tyre. It's an entertaining start, I must say.
Yeah, as was the case in Dorlington Park a couple of weeks ago. The opening few laps were
interesting and then the rest of the race, not so much. But let's start with the positives,
and I'll sweep up the negatives later on, as I always do.
As you would probably expect, the Lyon got a cracking start off the line and managed to
get in between Ingram and Kanich, who started off the front row. He didn't manage to take
the lead, however, because Ingram went fairly defensive from the end to Paddock,
which very much nearly opened the door up for Sutton at that point.
It was a start of two phases for Ingram. Initially, I thought he bogged down quite a lot,
but by the time he got to Paddock Hill, Ben, he sort of picked up the pace again.
He looked like he'd made by the wheel spin off the line.
And as you say, Sutton and Kanich behind had to pick which directions to go
and where to try and slot themselves in. And as is often the way of Ash Sutton,
he picked the right route.
He did. He tried to have a go at Ingram coming into Druids effectively,
but Ingram shut that door quite abruptly. And then the Lyon had quite a big say in a door being
opened down into Graham Hill. Yeah, I've got a lot wrong with this, in my opinion. It's a late
move. It's a late move, but I think Tim Harvey was incorrect in his commentary. I think the door
was open. I don't think it was closed. I think there was space for a lunge. I just think that
it looks worse for Delion because he's locked up into it. And that is a problem we've seen with
the F1 last week. What can happen if you lock up going into somebody? I get that, but I don't think
the river's outrageous. I don't think it was one of those. This way, I think it was more on than
Sutton's was at Donnington a couple of weeks ago, where he ended up on the grass and out of the
race to pole qualifying event sprint thing. So yeah, I mean, I think the door was open.
I think Ingram obviously would be upset of the outcome. It was quite an aggressive move in the
end, but yeah, I think that's, it's difficult. That is, in my mind, what to encourage him is.
Yeah, it was up and over the inside of the curb at Graham Hill, pushing both drivers wide,
which is why Sutton then had the momentum to go and take the lead down the back straight.
This may have to drop Ingram down to fifth behind Collard, where he actually stayed for the rest of
the race and he didn't make any progress back up and through the field, which I thought he
might actually do. Yeah, there's always a possibility for some damage. You don't know if
their track rod end had been knocked or suspension had been knocked or, you know, these cars are so,
if you get the chance throughout the season to go and see them balancing on the pit lane of the
bits of string and stuff like these cars are so finely tuned that just a little knock either way
really can make a big difference. I do wonder potentially that's what's happened here. He's
picked up a bit of damage and he's think himself, I could push this car, but I'm not going to make
the damage worse. And is that going to make me fall down the grid? Or do I say, do you know what?
I'm fifth. It's not too bad. Sunday start. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not great
that my championship rivals up the field, but is it better to start fifth than it is back on the
grid? Obviously, it's better to start fifth. Graham Hillbend was pretty much the area where
most of the action happened because on lap two, it looked like Rainford and Morgan had a coming
together going down into there. And then with that, Rainford had been pushed wide, made two,
sort of half collect Chilton and pushed him wide as well. I mean, if Rainford was wide,
Chilton was, I mean, he was bunny hopping over the grass at the edge of Paddock Hill,
sorry, edge of Graham Hill, apologies. They both dropped down pretty much to the back of the field
at that point and had to start recovering their way through. Morgan didn't seem like he had too
much of an effect. I just think he was all from white or you look like the aggressor in the first
test. Yes, but I also think it's a classic case of concertina ring in the early few laps. There's
a lot of cars in around them. It's not like it was Morgan and Rainford and nobody else near them.
It's a case of that, you know, the track cannot accommodate more than three cars wide and there
are about 567 cars going for the same piece of tarmac and that that is what
two-increasing is at the crux of it. Yeah, it certainly are. Darlene from the back of the grid
on lap four have managed to make his way all the way up to 15th. New engine on board.
Let's get my cup of tea. New engine on board always kind of helps with that progress. Nice
strong engine at the start of the race is always beneficial. And he carried on decent pace throughout
the race as well, making up a few more positions later on. There was a good battle between the
laser tools boys and Shelby and Osborn. A good battle to get onto that one. But yeah, they were
chopping and changing on the edge of the top 10 first of all. Chilton was trying to obviously
recover the positions that he lost. He managed to get back past Rainford and then had an interesting
attack on on row bottom. That's what I'm saying. We don't really mention row bottom yet. Who, I mean,
should I put my helmet on? Hasn't had a particularly good Saturday here. Wasn't particularly strong
in qualifying and wasn't making up a great deal of space in the race. But no, considering where
Morgan started inside the top six, you thought, okay, Morgan can be up there in the car.
As robot and got possibly some set up issues or something like that.
What's the possibility? Because he wasn't making brilliant progress.
Rainford and robot, surprisingly, because he's running an exhaust manifold that has never been
seen before. And it's so light, it's lighting this cup of tea. So it's a miracle to see him so
far down the grid. Rainford and robot on then had a clash together on lap 10. This was all for 18th
position overall. No points, no anything, just glory.
I will say that on both drivers here, he was looking a bit silly at times.
It was tit for tat, wasn't it?
It was tit for tat. And I'm thinking to myself that as you just pointed out that it's for 18th,
lads like, don't get the cars home. Yeah, I wasn't overly impressed with either side on this. I think
that Rainford could probably argue that he was the bigger victim. But I do think that both were
giving tit for tat, as you say. And yeah, it looked a bit petty. Both cars had wounds,
it's fair to say, at the end of the race. And then we get back on to the laser tools boys who,
again, more action at Graham Hill. Now, was this Alan Taylor Smith turning in on Shedden,
or was it a Shedden dive bomb? I think the door was open for Shedden, the same way I think the
door was open for De Leon. I think that on the flip side, though, I think that even though the
door is open, that's a sort of move you don't pull on your teammate. I will say that, whereas
De Leon, I was angry with nothing. I don't think Taylor Smith was expecting it because it was his
teammate. I accept that. But this way, it's a move that I think is on as long as the car in front
isn't your teammate. Yeah, I think otherwise, yeah, the move is definitely on its work to go. I
think if your teammates, that situation is daft. But what should we say, both Shedden and Taylor
Smith are on the more combative side of racing. They're not quite the Ingram thread, the needle
approach, shall we say. But yeah, I was put this way. I was very surprised to see that from two
teammates. As I say, I think the move was on. But I wouldn't be happy pulling that on my
teammate if I was in the same situation. That's fair enough. Then more unlucky circumstances for
Cook. Suffered a puncture going up into Druids on the ultimate lap. Not the first time we've
seen a Toyota with a puncture. That's Cook's third puncture of the season. Obviously, had one on media
day. Had one at Donnington Park, was running into third in the main race. And had one at media day
as well. And now a puncture today. Yeah, it doesn't look brilliant. I think they've got to possibly
fine tune the setup. Cook at times was looking quick in that race. He was making some good
he was coming to be in the top 10. But it could be to due to the setup and then have a detrimental
effect later into a race. Can I just say, this is one of the reasons I don't like this as an event.
Because in my mind, puncture, they're not random, but there's not a lot that driver can do that I
can go like that about any prior given morning. And now Cook is having to start from the back of
the grid tomorrow after he qualified. Okay, nothing special. But okay, now he's got to start at the
complete back of the grid for something that potentially, I don't think in 90% of punctures,
it's the driver's fault. Yeah. So I think that yeah, he might have just run over a bit of debris.
He might have just clipped a curb in the wrong way. The argument against that is luck goes through
peace and trust throughout the season. He does. He may well get it back somewhere else in the
season. But there's no way for him now to save his race day. The point is that he qualified where
he qualified. And that's completely up to the driver. Even if there's an issue with the car,
you have to drive around it. That's up to the driver today. He is now at the back of the grid
tomorrow for something that is purely based on luck. You could have something similar happening
qualifying, it actually puts you off. You can. But if you can get yourself back to the pit lane,
which he did, he could put a new tire on and go back out and set another time. Unless he's
caused a red flag, which I agree with you. And there's always going to be that trade off. I
completely accept that. But I think that in the qualifying, you've got more of a chance to get back
to the pits and put it right here. You are screwed. And you're now at the back of the grid
tomorrow. And it's hard to see with this particular grid. And it's a strong grid. And there's not
particularly many weak drivers or cars as well from the times that were set in those two 15
minute sessions. Unless you're certain are Ingram, who can come from the back to the front with
relatively easy would seem, you know, that's going to be two weekends in the row now for Cook
where people would say he might be a dark horse or championship. I'm telling you now, that's over.
Yeah. And then going on to the final coming towards the end of the final lap, we all thought
that Leon had got it wrong. Yeah, coming into the final corner, like he was running wide,
possibly with a puncher of his own. But he managed to keep it out of the gravel only just
and keep that second place over the line to finish just behind that Sutton.
Crucially kept out of the gravel because he was on a final limit for the track limits,
although to be fair, are they monitoring that corner? And it's probably only Graham Hill that
they are monitoring this weekend. And in fairness to the mark or to the decision that you might
make there, that is the only corner circuit you can properly cut, I would say without going off
on the grass. And you can cut clear ways, but you're going rally crossing. So yeah. So yeah,
Sutton took the win from the Leon and Camish with Collard a fairly reserved fourth. Yeah,
we made our preseason predictions and we've had Collard, we've both had Collard on our top 10,
a couple of people were saying in the comments that that's too high.
It might be if he'd done half seats. Yeah, but we didn't know that at the time.
Point is that he's had a very strong start to coming back to the touring car. So it's good
to see him back in there. It was also nice to see him flashing his lights at Camish throughout the
process. It's always nice to see that. You're trying to scare other drivers off the track.
Absolutely. Behind him, Ingram finished head of Morgan, solid for Morgan. Mikey Dober had a pretty
anonymous session finishing seventh from Dexter Patterson, who was on, well, flirting with
Polar points during the initial part of qualifying. We then had Aaron Tally Smith and Shedham
rounding out the top 10 from Osborne, Dallin recovering to 12th, Smiley, Chilton, Rainford,
Moffat, who has had a dreadful Saturday. Robotton, Buxton, Cook and Hamilton. So Cook did finish
head of Hamilton, even though Hamilton didn't have to come to the pits in the end of some
of the pits for a few laps. So that put him laps down, whereas Cook's puncture was so close to
the end of the race, he only lost eight laps, I think. Yeah, exactly. Thoughts ahead of tomorrow
very quickly? I predicted in the preview that I didn't think that we'd see a podium for Napa or
a win for Sutton or Ingram on Sunday. I'm very much less confident yet. I still don't let
win race one tomorrow. Here we will only have one second of boost. I know you had one second
of booster in this race as well. But that was per lap. That It's going to be reduced
a lot for the race tomorrow and the cars behind them are going to have it. I also think De Leon
starting second with the real drive will give him a big edge going into race one tomorrow.
I'd be amazed if he doesn't lead into Druids. High gravy. And I think we'll have to see what
Ingram can do. This is an interesting conundrum now for Ingram. Do you go aggressive and force
yourself into the conversation or do you just do a bit more of a turks and stance and just
bank the points where you can? I think for the opening race, obviously, I think it depends.
One, how the start goes. The start goes smoothly and it's fairly clean across that top five, top
six. Then I think Ingram's got to look at the fact of trying to finish that first race ahead of
Sutton and then just keep building the points over the weekend and clawing that gap that was
created with his disappointing opening weekend at Donington.
Yeah, I still think the BMW is going to be strong tomorrow. I still think that the Audi is going
to be strong tomorrow as well. Possibly not my fit, but we'll see. I am less confident of a no-napa
podium. I'm more confident of a no-win for Sutton or Ingram than I am a no-napa podium. But I think
both those predictions are now looking a little bit pie in the sky, to be honest with you.
You have, just for the record, got a point. You did predict that Ingram would get
poll, but neither has got the race to poll qualifying sprint event right.
Well, we'll catch you up with all the action from Sunday. If you haven't done it already,
do go down below, subscribe, get that bell on, make sure you're keeping up to date with all
the videos and podcasts that we do release. We know how many people out there aren't subscribed
yet. We want you to. And if you're out at the circuit tomorrow and you see us before
the race event reminder, you can always come and say hello, come chat with people,
two people that don't understand any of it. And we have got with us some more
two-and-a-half stickers. So by all means, pop along, say hi. And yeah, see you tomorrow.
Yeah, if we see you then, we'll see you then. If not, we'll be back with a review on Tuesday.
Bye for now.
About this episode
Pole for the race-to-pole format at Brands Hatch Indy is reviewed alongside the parc fermé-style qualifying restriction: “once you have done the first part of qualifying, you can make no changes to the car that affect performance or setup.” Tyres and an engine change after FP1 shape early fortunes. On track, the hosts debate whether “the door was open” for a late lunge, while early-lap “concertina ring” and damage/traction issues explain position swings. Cook’s weekend unravels with a Druids puncture, and tomorrow’s strategy hinges on limited boost and starting position.
