Jason Plato has done all he can to keep his championship hopes alive going into tomorrow’s BTCC finale at Brand Hatch with pole position.
The session started on a wet track and for the rest of the session it was drying meaning the times set towards the end of the session would be the fastest. Things were complicated further when a red flag came out towards the end of the session as Dave Newsham spun off.
Plato may not have had pole without the red flag as several drivers were on quick laps as it came out, however Plato said he was also about to better his own lap.
So joining Plato on the front row is MG KC Tesco Clubard Fuelsave team mate Sam Tordoff. Championship rival Colin Turkington ended up fourth with Yuasa Honda driver Gordon Shedden in third providing a further obstacle between him and rival Plato. Team mate Neal lost out as he was setting his fastest lap as the red flag came out leaving him down in twenty second on the grid.
Adam Morgan was fifth in his Wix Racing Mercedes, keeping his usual consistency, he’ll be hoping that this time he can turn it into a podium result. He may have been higher still but lost his best time when he exceeded track limits. Fabrizio Giovanardi was Sixth, the highest Airwaves car in what is the last weekend for the title Sponsor. Seventh was United Autosports James Cole, taking by far the best qualifying position of his BTCC career. Mat Jackson was Eighth meaning both Airwaves cars are in the top ten for this final weekend. Nick Foster was ninth for Ebay, with the other Ebay dirver, Rob Collard down in twenty third. He was yet another driver who lost out when the session ended unexpectedly. The team had done an amazing job repairing his car after the huge roll at Silverstone that saw Rob in Hospital. Rob himself is fine now, if a little sore still.
Tenth was Dave Newsham having his best qualifying of the season on the last weekend and despite his early exit from the session causing the red flag. Eleventh was Tom Ingram in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis, he’s had very little luck during the 2014 season, will tomorrow be his day?
Jack Goff and Alain Menu were twelfth and thirteenth in their VW CC’s and also looked like they may have gone faster in the final stages. Fourteenth was Hunter Abbott, beating team mate Rob Austin who was sixteenth. They too thought they were set for the top ten. Austin had his best time disallowed for exceeding track limits. Marc Hynes was the other driver falling foul of the track limits rules ending up in twenty fifth. Rounding out the top fifteen was Andrew Jordan who also felt he lost out due to the red flag.
There are thirty cars this weekend following the withdrawl of Rotek Racing. They were due to run Tony Gillham in place of Robb Holland who had business commitments. However after the Silverstone Shunt, the team found the damage was more severe than first thought and were unable to get it repaired in time for this weekend.
Full times are on TSL
Apologies that our usual coverage is reduced this weekend, this is due to circumstances beyond our control. By Marc Waller
