BTCC 2011 - ROCKINGHAM
Plato on controversial pole
Jason Plato has taken pole position for the first of tomorrow's three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire after an angry clash with Matt Neal in qualifying.
In a rush to set a time in the session's closing stages following a late red flag stoppage, Plato’s Silverline Chevrolet and Neal’s Honda Racing Civic twice collided and there were harsh words exchanged between the pair in the pit lane afterwards with members of their teams having to intervene.
Both incidents between them, on and off the track, have been referred to the championship stewards for investigation.
Plato, though, had already set a time, 1m23.745s, good enough for pole. He will be joined on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s first race by fellow Chevrolet driver, GoMobileUK.com with tech-speed’s Paul O’Neill.
Rob Austin, driving an NGTC-spec Audi A4 for his eponymous team, was third fastest ahead of Neal in fourth. James Nash (888 Racing with Collins Contractors Vauxhall Vectra) and Neal’s Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden, the championship leader, completed the top six.
Shedden holds a one-point lead over Neal going into tomorrow’s three races. Mat Jackson (Airwaves Ford Focus), who qualified ninth fastest, is third ahead of Plato in fourth.
Elsewhere Martin Byford, in only his third BTCC event, qualified the AmD Milltek Racing.com team's VW Golf an excellent tenth overall. Michael Caine, making his BTCC debut this weekend in a third Airwaves Focus, was 19th, and Tony Gilham, in the returning Geoff Steel Racing squad's BMW, 23rd.
Completing the 25 runners was Airwaves' Liam Griffin who crashed his car shortly before the end of the session - this causing the red flag stoppage mentioned above.
P/ No/ CL/ Driver/ Car/ Time/ Laps/ Gap/ M.P.H./
1 1 Jason Plato Chevrolet Cruze 1m23.745s 15 -- 83.39mph
2 29 I Paul O'Neill Chevrolet Cruze 1m23.905s 13 +0.160s 83.23mph
3 13 I Rob Austin Audi A4 1m23.970s 13 +0.225s 83.17mph
4 2 Matt Neal Honda Civic 1m24.006s 14 +0.261s 83.13mph
5 14 I James Nash Vauxhall Vectra 1m24.014s 12 +0.269s 83.12mph
6 52 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 1m24.095s 13 +0.350s 83.04mph
7 11 I Frank Wrathall Toyota Avensis 1m24.186s 11 +0.441s 82.95mph
8 77 I Andrew Jordan Vauxhall Vectra 1m24.372s 16 +0.627s 82.77mph
9 7 I Mat Jackson Ford Focus ST 1m24.458s 15 +0.713s 82.69mph
10 99 I Martin Byford VW Golf MK5 1m24.537s 13 +0.792s 82.61mph
11 18 I Nick Foster BMW 320si E90 1m24.537s 14 +0.792s 82.61mph
12 44 I Andy Neate Global Ford Focus 1m24.576s 11 +0.831s 82.57mph
13 4 I Tom Onslow-Cole Ford Focus 1m24.578s 10 +0.833s 82.57mph
14 5 I Tom Chilton Global Ford Focus 1m24.612s 15 +0.867s 82.54mph
15 20 Alex MacDowall Chevrolet Cruze 1m24.628s 13 +0.883s 82.52mph
16 8 I Robert Collard BMW 320si E90 1m24.630s 15 +0.885s 82.52mph
17 22 I Tom Boardman SEAT Leon 1m24.753s 15 +1.008s 82.40mph
18 42 I Daniel Welch Proton Gen-2 1m24.842s 15 +1.097s 82.31mph
19 6 I Michael Caine Ford Focus ST 1m24.902s 16 +1.157s 82.25mph
20 17 I David Newsham SEAT Leon 1m24.909s 11 +1.164s 82.25mph
21 55 I Jeff Smith Vauxhall Vectra 1m25.089s 14 +1.344s 82.07mph
22 28 I John George Chevrolet Cruze 1m25.515s 15 +1.770s 81.66mph
23 34 I Tony Gilham BMW 320i E46 1m25.667s 12 +1.922s 81.52mph
24 78 I Chris James Chevrolet Lacetti 1m26.739s 14 +2.994s 80.51mph
25 66 I Liam Griffin Ford Focus ST 1m26.865s 11 +3.120s 80.39mph
"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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