BMR’s Jason Plato took fastest time as the second meeting of the 2015 BTCC gt underway at Donington Park.
Sam Tordoff was on top for much of the session in his BMW but a flurry of faster times in the second part of the session saw him tumble down the order to seventeenth.
The reason for the session being split in two was a red flag coming out for a heavy collision between MG’s Jack Goff and the Audi of Hunter Abbott. Goff had misjudged Abbot’s speed going into the chicane and slammed into the back of the Audi. Goff recovered to the pits where the team could get to work on the car but Abbot’s car was stranded with very heavy rear end damage. Once the session was stopped the car was recovered to the pits where the Exocet Alcosense team could get to work on the car.
It’s possible we may not see Abbott on track for the rest of the day. Goff’s car looks less damaged and he should be back out.
Stewards Judged Goff to be at fault in the incident and gave him two points on his licence and an official reprimand. It wasn’t the start to the weekend either driver wanted. It left Goff and Abbott 21st and 26th respectively.
Behind Plato at the front of the times was the Honda of Gordon Shedden. The Scotsman had looked a bit wild at times as he ran right to the edge of the track but he found the speed to take to the top end of the timesheets. Andrew Jordan had a much better time than his MG team mate with third. Turkington and Smith of BMR took fourth and fifth with the team again looking strong. Adam Morgan’s Mercedes is next for Wix Racing with the Laser Tols racing Mercedes of Aiden Moffat only 0.050 behind that. Tom Ingram was an excellent eighth for Speedworks with the Power Maxed racing duo of Cook and Newsham rounding out the top ten. Rob Collard was the best of the WSR BMW’s in eleventh with Priaulx in fifthteenth. They had all been higher earlier in the session. Mike Bushell’s AMD Tuning run Ford Focus was thirteenth, the best of the two Focus.
Both Welch Motorsport cars were due to run but there was no sign of Dan Welch on track. The Infiniti team though, did have two cars out for the first time but were still towards the rear of the field in twenty fifth and twenty seventh. Stewart Lines Houseman racing Toyota also had problems with only a single lap meaning he didn’t set a time.
Full results are available as always from the BTCC’s official timer, TSL Timing By Marc Waller
