Jason Plato has started as he means to go on with the fastest time in first practice for the BTCC at Silverstone.
The big news of the day though, is the revocation of the Licences of Team Dynamics following the comments by Matt Neal at Rockingham that he thought the championship was being biased against them. The team have also been fined £25,000. Both penalties however are suspended until December 31st 2015 and if no further infractions of article 4.4 (Bringing the championship into disrepute) occur then the penalties will be rescinded.
In other news, Luke Hines has joined United Autosport for the final two BTCC meetings following the suspension of Glyn Geddie by the team after being charged with drink driving. Lea Wood’s car had been rebuilt from his huge Rockingham shunt and he is back out this weekend.
Robb Holland has announced that Silverstone will be his last meeting of the year due to Business commitments and that Tony Gillham will drive the Rotek Audi at Brands.
But back to practice and behind Plato in second place was Shedden just eight hundredths of a second off Plato. Championship leader Turkington was third on a track which doesn’t usually suit the BMW. He could seal the championship here with a good weekend. Arom Smith and Alain Menu put tow of the BMR Restart racing VW CC’s in fourth and fifth respectively. Sixth was Sam Tordoff not matching the pace of his team mate yet but with it being practice they may have been testing different setups. Adam Morgan was Seventh for Wix racing in his Mercedes A Class ahead of Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson in his Ford Focus. Jackson’s team mate Giovanardi ended up out of the session early. A Differential problem left him with a one wheel drive car! Ninth was Warren Scott making it an excellent session for his team BMR Restart racing with Jack Goff in the fourth car just outside the top ten in twelfth. The last place in the top ten was taken up by Matt Neal slightly off his team mate’s pace. Hunter Abbott was forced to sit out the whole session with alternator failure.
Full times are on TSL Timing; By Marc Waller
