BTCC 2012 - Croft

[Julie B]

First Practice

Andrew Jordan headed a Honda 1-2-3 in Croft Circuit’s opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship practice session.

Jordan’s best lap of 1m24.835s in his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic, achieved in blustery but dry conditions, was almost a second under the race lap record at the North Yorkshire track.

More impressively it was a staggering 0.830s faster than next fastest Gordon Shedden’s factory Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civic. There was then also another long gap of 0.721s to Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal who set the third fastest time of 1m26.386s.

Notably Shedden survived a wild sideways moment over the muddy grass exiting Sunny In after being distracted by Will Bratt’s RAR Audi as it moved left out of his way.

Staffordshire’s Jordan, who achieved his first BTCC race win at Croft in 2010, told btcc.net: “The car feels good out of the box but it’s very early days. No way are those lap times representative of how close it’s going to get but, yes, it’s a good start to the weekend.”

Just over a second then covered the next nine runners. Fourth fastest was Dave Newsham’s ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra while Robert Collard’s eBay Motors BMW and Jason Plato’s MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 completed the top six.

As at Oulton Park, Adam Morgan again showed flashes of speed with the seventh fastest time – just 0.003s behind Plato – in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis. Rob Austin was eighth in the first of his RAR team’s two Audi A4s while Aron Smith was the fastest of the Redstone Racing Ford Focus drivers in tenth, although did inflict minor scuffing to his car’s left-front wheel arch when he clipped a tyre stack at the Chicane…

On his return to the BTCC, Paul O’Neill was 21st in Speedworks’s second Toyota although his session was interrupted half way through when the car’s engine fell into limp mode. Daniel Welch, just ahead in 20th, was also delayed while mechanics replaced a broken bonnet pin on his Welch Motorsport Proton Persona.

[458 Italia]

COME ON PLATO!!!

[Rob]

Plato fastest but unhappy
Jason Plato set the day’s fastest time so far in Croft’s second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship practice session in a still less-than-perfect car.

Plato mustered a best lap time of 1m24.817s in his MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 – a smidgeon faster than Andrew Jordan’s best from this morning’s earlier session.

That was almost half a second clear of the rest, headed by championship leader Gordon Shedden’s Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civic. But Plato was far from satisfied.

“The set-up still isn’t quite there and there’s a slight problem with the engine’s throttle response in the high speed stuff so it’s not the perfect car yet,” he told btcc.net. Plato’s team-mate Andy Neate was also dissatisfied with his car’s behaviour, describing both its handling and braking as “unpredictable” as he wound up 14th fastest.

Notably Plato had been on course to better his fastest time on his following lap, but aborted it after admitting to “mucking up” Tower Bend. His time, as did those of many of the leading drivers, came during a flurry of activity towards the end of the session.

Behind Shedden in third was Robert Collard in his eBay Motors BMW. Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal was fourth with just one flying lap as he chose to spend much of the session ‘scrubbing in’ tyres. First session pace-setter Jordan was fifth ahead of Mat Jackson, sixth in his Redstone Racing Ford Focus.

Fifth in the first session, Adam Morgan again impressed in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis to pip fellow ‘rookie’, Jackson’s team-mate Aron Smith, to seventh. After a relatively slow start this morning, Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall began getting into his stride to be ninth in his Toyota while Jordan’s team-mate Jeff Smith completed the top ten.

Smith survived two excursions over the muddy grass at the complex. Twelfth-fastest Dave Newsham and Redstone’s Liam Griffin were also spinners, the former’s ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra rotating exiting the Clervaux corner, the latter’s Focus as it emerged from the narrow, high-speed Chicane.

BTCC returnee Paul O’Neill was unable to set a competitive lap time as his Speedworks Toyota crawled back to the pit lane, its engine having again curiously fallen into ‘limp mode’ as in the opening session.

[458 Italia]

I hope he can get the car the way he likes it and stick it on pole.

[Greig]

Plato fastest but unhappy

Shocking lol

[Julie B]

Matt Neal on pole...more to follow

[Julie B]

Qualifying

1. Neal
2. Jordan
3. Shedden
4. Wrathall
5. Plato
6. Collard
7. Austin
8. M Jackson
9. Neate
10. Onslow-Cole
11. Morgan
12. J Smith
13. A Smith
14. Welch
15. Newsham
16. Foster
17. Wood
18. O'Neill
19. Gilham
20. O Jackson
21. Bratt
22. Griffin
23. James

Matt Neal continued his recent strong form with pole position in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s qualifying session at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire.

Reigning Champion Neal, second in the standings, set a best lap of 1m24.900s in his Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civic to grab pole spot on the starting grid for the first of tomorrow’s three races.

The Civics of Pirtek Racing privateer Andrew Jordan and Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden, the current championship leader, were second and third fastest as Hondas filled the top three spots.

Frank Wrathall’s Dynojet Toyota Avensis was fourth ahead of Jason Plato’s MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 and Robert Collard’s eBay Motors BMW which just won the battle of the rear-wheel-drive cars as it pipped by Rob Austin’s RAR Audi A4 to sixth by 0.039s.

Plato, who’d set the fastest time all day in an earlier practice session, was denied the opportunity of going for pole late on when his car broke down with an electrical problem.

Worcestershire’s Neal, who took a victory double at Oulton Park a fortnight ago and also won twice at Croft 12 months ago, told btcc.net: “I’m delighted. We played about a lot with tyres in the two practice sessions while working on general set-up and this is the result. But we’ve also seen in the practice sessions that this circuit is very hard on tyres and that will play a factor tomorrow…”

Staffordshire’s Jordan, chasing his first win of 2012 – he achieved his maiden BTCC race victory at Croft two years ago – was satisfied with second. He said: “I put in a very good first lap but that was the ‘banker’ lap done. The next time I went out on track I was going for Matt’s pole but needed to duck around a few slower cars and right at the end there were waved yellow caution flags for the MG at the side of track. I’m still happy, though.”

Fife’s Shedden, who has won an unrivalled five times from the 12 races so far this season, added: “My car’s carrying maximum success ballast, of course, and even though it’s only nine kilos more than Matt’s it does hurt a lot around this particular circuit. I could probably have got a bit more out of the car on my final run but third is OK.”

[Rob]

wasnt bad quali session, for sure be some good racing tomorrow. And hope Paul O'Neill have good day racing on his return. Plus i put him in my fantasy team :pray

[458 Italia]

What's happened to Jason this morning?

[Julie B]

What's happened to Jason this morning?

Problem with the car yet again !!!

[Julie B]

Race 1 - Results

Matt Neal continued Honda's domination of the British Touring Car Championship by taking the spoils in the opening race of the weekend at Croft on Sunday.

The champion had to battle ahead of the fast-starting Andrew Jordan and the fellow factory Honda of Gordon Shedden to assert himself at the head of the pack on lap 12.

Rob Collard's WSR BMW shadowed Neal up the order and ran in the wheel tracks of the Civic, finishing just under half a second behind.

"I could see Collard following me and I knew I had to push on," said Neal. "I had a chat with the team on the radio and they said I should go for it. After all, we are all in this championship as individuals as well as a team."

Shedden dropped away from the top two with tyre problems in his fully-ballasted Civic but managed to hang on to his third place position after 18 laps.

Behind Jordan, Rob Austin equaled his best finish of the season on his return to action in the rear-wheel drive RAR Audi A4 by taking fifth place. He earned that by battling ahead of Andy Neate's Triple Eight Race Engineering MG6 late on in the race.

Championship challenger Jason Plato in the other MG6, who had qualified sixth, failed to take the start when the electrics failed on his hatchback. He rejoined for a handful of laps in a reworked car but was out of the point-paying positions when the flag fell.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Matt Neal Honda 28m55.451s
2. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 0.401s
3. Gordon Shedden Honda + 4.923s
4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda + 12.910s
5. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 22.538s
6. Andy Neate MG + 27.387s
7. Tom Onslow-Cole WSR BMW + 30.639s
8. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 30.972s
9. Will Bratt Austin Audi + 37.738s
10. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford + 50.725s
11. Ollie Jackson AmD Volkswagen + 52.965s
12. Tony Gilham Gilham Honda + 54.104s
13. Lea Wood Central Vauxhall + 1m03.042s
14. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford + 1m04.487s
15. Adam Morgan Speedworks Toyota + 1m09.972s
16. Chris James ES Vauxhall + 1m14.503s
17. Paul O'Neill Speedworks Toyota + 1 lap
18. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 2 laps

Retirements:

Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 13 laps
Jason Plato MG 10 laps
Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 9 laps
Daniel Welch Welch Proton 3 laps
Dave Newsham ES Vauxhall 0 laps

[458 Italia]

Problem with the car yet again !!!

Bum. I hope he can get out in race 2.

[Julie B]

Race 2 - Results

Gordon Shedden took his sixth victory of the 2012 season to restore himself to the head of the British Touring Car Championship standings by two points after winning the second race of the day at Croft.

The Honda racer overhauled his team-mate Matt Neal on the third lap of the race to move into a lead he would never lose throughout the remaining 12 laps.

"The podium in race one was great, but I had less weight for this race and I needed to take advantage," said Shedden. "It's nip and tuck between Neal and me, and I have to bank the results when I can."

Neal had come under pressure initially from the private Eurotech Honda of Andrew Jordan as his factory car suffered low oil pressure and a misfire. The champion managed to hang on to second place as Jordan's tyres faded and he dropped down the order.

The fight for what would become third place was spectacular with the WSR BMW of Rob Collard fending off Rob Austin's Audi A4 and Collard's team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole. Austin produced a well thought out move to slice ahead of Collard powering out of the hairpin with two laps to go. Jordan fended off Collard and Onslow-Cole on the dash to the flag.

Jason Plato, who had been forced to start from 20th place after an electrical problem in race one, fought through the pack to seventh place in his MG.

He was ahead of Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota), Andy Neate (MG) and Nick Foster (WSR BMW). Foster has been drawn on pole for the final race of the day.

Results - 15 laps:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Gordon Shedden Honda 21m55.113s
2. Matt Neal Honda + 4.448s
3. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 10.863s
4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda + 14.864s
5. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 14.961s
6. Tom Onslow-Cole WSR BMW + 15.280s
7. Jason Plato MG + 22.814s
8. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 32.312s
9. Andy Neate MG + 33.109s
10. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 39.335s
11. Tony Gilham Gilham Honda + 46.955s
12. Dave Newsham ES Vauxhall + 47.563s
13. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda + 47.697s
14. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford + 50.440s
15. Ollie Jackson AmD Volkswagen + 54.021s
16. Chris James ES Vauxhall + 1m13.171s
17. Daniel Welch Welch Proton + 1m31.933s
18. Will Bratt Austin Audi + 1 lap
19. Lea Wood Central Vauxhall + 1 lap
20. Adam Morgan Speedworks Toyota + 2 laps

Retirements:

Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 7 laps
Paul O'Neill Speedworks Toyota 6 laps
Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1 lap

[458 Italia]

I forgot this was still going on lol!

[Julie B]

I forgot this was still going on lol!

Next race at 17.12 pm

[458 Italia]

Matt Neal has so much luck!

[458 Italia]

Come on Jason! You can win race 3!

[458 Italia]

Yes Jason up to 2nd MG 1-2

[458 Italia]

Get in Plato 1st!

[458 Italia]

He wins!

This day keeps on getting better!

[Julie B]

Race 3 - Results

Jason Plato scored his 70th career victory in the British Touring Car Championship when he topped the reversed grid encounter at Croft.

The double champion picked his way through the pack after a poor start to make it to fourth place when the safety car appeared on lap six following a crash between backmarkers Liam Griffin and Lea Wood, which resulted in a spectacular fire.

When racing resumed on lap 12, Plato immediately grabbed third place from Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota) on the run to the opening turn and then the MG man profited when Rob Collard's WSR BMW ran wide.

Andy Neate was leading the race in the second Triple Eight Race Engineering MG6 but Plato zeroed in and snatched the initiative with a lunge into Tower corner on lap 15. He romped clear to win by nearly two seconds.

Neate was shuffled down the pack as Tom Onslow-Cole took his WSR BMW into second place and Eurotech Honda man Andrew Jordan demoted the Civic of Matt Neal to take the final spot on the podium.

Race two winner Gordon Shedden finished in sixth place in the other works Honda, just behind Collard, while the top eight was rounded out by Rob Austin's Audi A4 and the WSR BMW of Nick Foster, which had started on pole position.

The result means that Neal has retaken the points lead from team-mate Shedden.