BTCC 2010 - Donington
QUALIFYING
Tom Chilton has taken pole position in Donington Park’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying session as the top five in the series filled the top five spots.
Chilton achieved his fourth pole of the season in a time of 1m11.328s in his Team Aon Ford Focus. It means he will start the first of tomorrow’s three races from the front of the starting grid which could prove crucial to his title hopes as he goes into this weekend with some 59 points to make up on series leader Jason Plato – now 58 as his pole gives him a bonus point.
Second fastest, just 0.081s adrift, and making it an all-Team Aon front row was his team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole, currently third in the championship table. Third, just as he is in the championship, was Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden while series leader, Silverline Chevrolet’s Jason Plato, and Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal, second in the standings, qualified fourth and fifth fastest.
The jumbled-up order means fans can likely expect fireworks tomorrow at Donington as each of these five drivers fights to keep alive his title hopes ahead of the BTCC’s Finals Day fixture at Brands Hatch early next month.
Furthermore, there's also the real possibility that several other drivers could get involved in and add to the unpredictability - less than a second covered today's 12 fastest qualifiers.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Tom Chilton Ford 1m11.328s
2. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 1m11.409s + 0.081s
3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m11.448s + 0.120s
4. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m11.542s + 0.214s
5. Matt Neal Honda 1m11.604s + 0.276s
6. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 1m11.717s + 0.389s
7. Paul O'Neill Honda 1m11.822s + 0.494s
8. Rob Collard BMW 1m11.834s + 0.506s
9. Tom Boardman SEAT 1m11.916s + 0.588s
10. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m11.919s + 0.591s
11. Mat Jackson BMW 1m12.010s + 0.682s
12. James Nash Vauxhall 1m12.298s + 0.970s
13. James Kaye Honda 1m13.100s + 1.772s
14. Andy Neate BMW 1m13.221s + 1.893s
15. Lea Wood Honda 1m13.287s + 1.959s
16. John George Honda 1m13.456s + 2.128s
17. Martin Johnson Vauxhall 1m13.900s + 2.572s
18. David Pinkney Vauxhall 1m13.927s + 2.599s
19. Shaun Hollamby Volkswagen 1m14.208s + 2.880s
20. Arthur Forster BMW 1m15.140s + 3.812s
21. Steven Kane BMW
"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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