Rockingham BTCC: Jason Plato leads morning practice
Jason Plato topped the first British Touring Car practice session at Rockingham on Saturday morning as MG and Honda dominated
Plato's Triple Eight-run works MG6 was one of the first to post a competitive time and his 1m24.135s stood as the fastest lap for some time.
In the final 15 minutes of the 40-minute session, Honda's Gordon Shedden recorded a 1m23.722, only for Plato to respond immediately with a time of 1m23.524s.
That was enough for Plato to top the session, and was 0.2 seconds faster than the double champion's 2011 pole time, set in an RML Chevrolet Cruze.
Despite suffering from his road traffic accident injuries, championship leader Matt Neal was third in the second works Honda Civic, just over a tenth shy of Shedden.
Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Civic was the closest to Plato early in the session, but was pipped for fifth right at the end by team-mate Jeff Smith. That meant all four NGTC Civics were in the top five.
Andy Neate showed improved form to end up sixth, albeit 1.3s down on team-mate Plato.
BTCC rookie Howard Fuller was 19th in Tony Gilham's S2000 Civic, just ahead Ollie Jackson's AmD VW Golf, which suffered differential problems.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Jason Plato MG 1m23.524s 2. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m23.722s + 0.198s 3. Matt Neal Honda 1m23.871s + 0.347s 4. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 1m24.067s + 0.543s 5. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m24.116s + 0.592s 6. Andy Neate MG 1m24.849s + 1.325s 7. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 1m24.931s + 1.407s 8. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m24.971s + 1.447s 9. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m24.973s + 1.449s 10. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m25.063s + 1.539s 11. Adam Morgan Speedworks Toyota 1m25.493s + 1.969s 12. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m25.543s + 2.019s 13. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m25.565s + 2.041s 14. Tom Onslow-Cole WSR BMW 1m25.602s + 2.078s 15. Will Bratt Austin Audi 1m25.665s + 2.141s 16. Dave Newsham ES Vauxhall 1m26.309s + 2.785s 17. Chris James ES Vauxhall 1m26.638s + 3.114s 18. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota 1m28.373s + 4.849s 19. Howard Fuller Gilham Honda 1m28.518s + 4.994s 20. Ollie Jackson AmD Volkswagen 1m28.538s + 5.014s
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