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Brands Hatch BTCC: Jason Plato fastest in first 2014 session

Jason Plato topped the first British Touring Car session of the 2014 season at Brands Hatch, which was affected by a pitlane incident

Plato moved to the top of the times after a red flag, caused when Rob Collard's WSR engineer Craig Parley appeared to fall off the pitwall.

He was taken away in an ambulance, but is believed to have suffered injuries no worse than a dislocated knee.

Colin Turkington lifted the WSR squad in the final 15 minutes by snatching second, but could not better Plato's 48.354s. That was a fraction faster than Andrew Jordan's pole time from 2013.

Reigning champion Jordan had set the early pace, once drivers started setting competitive times, and ended up third.

BTCC 2014: Why it will be unmissable

Matt Neal improved late on in the new Honda Civic Tourer, making it four former champions in the top four.

Best of the rest was Adam Morgan's new Mercedes A-class, which was up near the top of the timesheets throughout the session.

Ex-champions Alain Menu (BMR VW Passat) and Gordon Shedden (Civic Tourer) also made it into the top 10, but Motorbase struggled. Both Mat Jackson and 2007/08 champion Fabrizio Giovanardi ended up in the teens, while BTCC rookie Jack Clarke was 24th.

With Dan Welch's Proton not being ready in time and the sister car of Ollie Jackson hitting trouble, 29 cars took to the track. The top 22 were covered by one second.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car           Time       Gap
 1.  Jason Plato          MG                 48.354s
 2.  Colin Turkington     WSR BMW            48.530s    +0.176s
 3.  Andrew Jordan        Eurotech Honda     48.557s    +0.203s
 4.  Matt Neal            Honda              48.627s    +0.273s
 5.  Adam Morgan          Ciceley Mercedes   48.684s    +0.330s
 6.  Aron Smith           BMR VW             48.783s    +0.429s
 7.  Rob Collard          WSR BMW            48.787s    +0.433s
 8.  Sam Tordoff          MG                 48.809s    +0.455s
 9.  Gordon Shedden       Honda              48.865s    +0.511s
10.  Alain Menu           BMR VW             48.884s    +0.530s
11.  Rob Austin           RAR Audi           48.937s    +0.583s
12.  Jack Goff            BMR Vauxhall       48.957s    +0.603s
13.  Tom Ingram           Speedworks Toyota  48.962s    +0.608s
14.  Warren Scott         BMR Vauxhall       49.053s    +0.699s
15.  Mat Jackson          Motorbase Ford     49.067s    +0.713s
16.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Motorbase Ford     49.111s    +0.757s
17.  Nick Foster          WSR BMW            49.117s    +0.763s
18.  Marc Hynes           MG                 49.178s    +0.824s
19.  Glynn Geddie         UA Toyota          49.195s    +0.841s
20.  Hunter Abbott        RAR Audi           49.263s    +0.909s
21.  James Cole           UA Toyota          49.282s    +0.928s
22.  Martin Depper        Eurotech Honda     49.343s    +0.989s
23.  Dave Newsham         AmD Ford           49.534s    +1.180s
24.  Jack Clarke          Motorbase Ford     49.592s    +1.238s
25.  Robb Holland         Rotek Audi         49.914s    +1.560s
26.  Simon Belcher        Speedworks Toyota  50.142s    +1.788s
27.  Lea Wood             Houseman Toyota    50.190s    +1.836s
28.  Aiden Moffat         Moffat Chevrolet   51.455s    +3.101s
29.  Chris Stockton       BTC Chevrolet      1m44.644s  +56.290s

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