Tom Chilton will start the first round of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton this weekend from fifth on the grid, but was left cursing his luck afterwards.

An error by track officials meant Tom's quickest lap set in the opening part of the qualifying session was incorrectly cancelled, while Tom frustration was compounded by his Honda Civic Type R being called in to be weighed on three separate occasions, which denied him a chance to get the best from his tyres.

Tom's Arena Motorsport boss Mike Earle said: "That cost us at least two tenths, maybe four."

Two more tenths would have put Tom third on the grid, but despite the setback, he is confident that he's in good shape for the three races on Sunday.

"That's motor racing," he said. "It's not the end of the world. Our car is working really well and I haven't made a single mistake. We're able to lap fast, consistently and this will see us well in the race. If I can made a good start, we'll be right up there."

Thruxton is the fastest circuit on the BTCC calendar and tyre wear is always an issue, an area where the Civic is working well this weekend.

"I've got to keep a cool head in the opening stages," said Tom. "If I can avoid killing my tyres in the early stages, I think we'll be in a really strong position."

There is a new race format for this year. The top 10 finishing order from the first race is reversed to set the grid for race two, while the cars line up for the third race in the order they finished the second one.

The races from Thruxton can be seen live on ITV and on Sky Digital through Motors TV on Sunday April 11. Race 1 starts at 11am (BST).

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