Onslow-Cole 6th on Grid for tomorrow's race at Thruxton

Tom Onslow-Cole reckons top six finishes are on the cards in tomorrow's three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races after qualifying the AmD Milltek Racing.com team's VW Golf a best ever sixth at Thruxton.

The 23-year-old's stunning performance comes after he gave the car a first-ever points finish at Donington Park a fortnight ago.

And it might have been even higher had Onslow-Cole not run off the track at high speed exiting the daunting Church corner on his final flying lap, this filling the Golf's air intakes with grass and forcing him to pull up so as not to overheat the engine.

Ultimately, the Golf, this year fitted with a turbocharged engine built to the BTCC's new Next Generation Touring Car regulations, will line up on the third row of the grid for tomorrow's first race alongside reigning Champion Jason Plato’s Chevrolet.

And Onslow-Cole, who won here twice in one day in 2008, told btcc.net: "Our pace today is definitely representative of where we are with the car at the moment. I think we'll be good over a race distance, too, so we’re confident we’ll be able to hold our own tomorrow."

The New Malden racer also praised the AmD Milltek squad which, helped by his experience of racing for front-running teams, has rapidly transformed its car's performance.

Onslow-Cole added: "Today was good and everything's coming together very nicely. The team has really put the hours in and it’s paying off because we’re making steps forward with the Golf.

"There's still a lot to improve on as well, which is a really positive thing, although the chunks we're looking at taking from now on will be a lot smaller as we'll just be making fine adjustments to try to really hone our performance."