QUALIFYING
Jason Plato just pipped Gordon Shedden to take pole position in the Dunlop MSA British Touring car Championship’s qualifying session on Snetterton's new 300 circuit.
Shedden’s best time of 1m58.716s in his Honda Racing Civic looked unbeatable but with just a few minutes to go Plato, his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze on the ragged edge, produced a super-human lap of 1m58.691s to snatch pole away by just 0.025s.
Plato said: "That was the limit... absolutely the limit. But pole for us is everything as starting in front of the turbo cars is the only real chance I have of taking it to them in a race. It is going to be a massive fight between us and them tomorrow."
Third was Plato’s team-mate Alex MacDowall – he’d been in the running for pole until a flash fire on his Chevrolet Cruze in the pit lane spelt an early end to his session.
Fourth, just 0.248s behind Plato in a car carrying the maximum success ballast of 45kgs, was Shedden's team-mate and series leader Matt Neal. James Nash (888/Collins Contractors Vauxhall Vectra) and Tom Chilton (Aon Ford Focus) completed the top six.
A best-ever seventh for himself, his Dynojet team and its Toyota Avensis was Frank Wrathall. It’s the first time a car built to the BTCC’s new Next Generation Touring Car technical regulations has qualified inside the top ten.
Similarly, Dave Newsham was a best-ever eighth but their was much dejection for his Special Tuning Racing team-mate Tom Boardman whose SEAT Leon stopped at the side of the track early on before he'd set a time – he will therefore start the first of tomorrow’s three races from 26th and last on the grid.
There was also frustration for championship front-runners Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Vectra) and Mat Jackson (Airwaves Focus) back in 11th and 13th.
The two debutants this weekend, Martin Byford (AmD Milltek Racing.com VW Golf) and Daniel Welch qualified 19th and 20th, just 1.8s and 2.2s off the ultimate pace respectively. Welch’s performance was highly impressive given his team Welch Motorsport’s all-new Proton Gen-2 effectively turned a wheel for only the time in this morning’s practice sessions.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m58.691s
2. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m58.716s + 0.025s
3. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m58.908s + 0.217s
4. Matt Neal Honda 1m58.939s + 0.248s
5. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m59.067s + 0.376s
6. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 1m59.084s + 0.393s
7. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m59.084s + 0.393s
8. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT 1m59.252s + 0.561s
9. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m59.420s + 0.729s
10. Tom Onslow-Cole Arena Ford 1m59.515s + 0.824s
11. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 1m59.558s + 0.867s
12. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m59.664s + 0.973s
13. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m59.809s + 1.118s
14. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m59.931s + 1.240s
15. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 2m00.026s + 1.335s
16. Nick Foster WSR BMW 2m00.161s + 1.470s
17. Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall 2m00.303s + 1.612s
18. Andy Neate Arena Ford 2m00.356s + 1.665s
19. Martyn Byford AmD Volkswagen 2m00.531s + 1.840s
20. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 2m00.910s + 2.219s
21. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 2m02.117s + 3.426s
22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 2m02.374s + 3.683s
23. Lea Wood Central Honda 2m03.421s + 4.730s
24. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota 2m04.544s + 5.853s
25. Chris James ES Chevrolet No time
26. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT No time
"I don't want to be treated as special because I'm not. I just drive a racing car round in circles a bit faster than everyone else." Michael Schumacher
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