Rob Austin says he “punched his awesome button” to propel him to a season-best sixth on the grid in qualifying at Oulton Park.

Austin had been close to the front-running pace in both wet practice sessions, and backed this up with a fine run on a drying track in the truncated 30-minute session.

But there was bitter gall for team-mate Hunter Abbott, who span at Cascades on his final flying lap, and wound up 24th.

Austin said: “It really came down to that one big pressure lap so I just punched my awesome button and went for it! I actually got held up a bit by another car and almost aborted that lap but am glad I didn’t – I reckon without that delay I’d have been another four tenths of a second quicker.

“After two tough events at Donington and Thruxton we’re back where we belong and this gives everyone in the team a big lift. We’ve said all along we would be much stronger here and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow – I’m in with drivers who know how to race very hard but fair and that always makes a difference, plus our race form is always better than our qualifying form. Fingers crossed we’re going to be in for very competitive results in all three races.”

Abbott said: “We had a couple of problems with the car in the two earlier practice sessions and then this happens in qualifying when I know a top ten was on. The plan was to follow Rob and both go for a fast time together. Coming into Cascades I just asked a bit too much of the rear end went into a big double 360 spin off the track. I had to wait an age before rejoining safely and by then it was too late to go for another lap.

“All I can do is get my head down, keep clear of the inevitable mid-pack trouble and pick my way through for a decent grid position for race two and then we’ll see how it progresses from there. This is a setback but I’m still optimistic we can salvage something decent.”