Brands Hatch BTCC: Jason Plato stays on top
Jason Plato topped the second British Touring Car Championship free practice session at Brands Hatch as two of the seven series champions failed to get into the top 10
Plato's Triple Eight-run MG6 recorded two laps good enough to top the session early on, though the order behind him changed regularly.
Plato's team-mate Sam Tordoff moved into second as the qualifying simulation runs began in the closing stages, but there was then a brief stoppage when Warren Scott spun his BMR Vauxhall Insignia into the Paddock Hill Bend gravel trap.
After the restart, reigning champion Andrew Jordan went second fastest in his Eurotech Honda Civic, only to be pipped by the BMR Insignia of Jack Goff in the final moments.
Jordan and Tordoff thus completed the top four, just ahead of the BMR VW Passat of Aron Smith.
BTCC 2014: The big themes to watch
Impressive BTCC rookie Tom Ingram was sixth fastest in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis, while Colin Turkington, Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal made it five champions in the top nine.
Fabrizio Giovanardi continued to struggle for pace, catching a big slide at Paddock Hill Bend and ending up 13th.
Fellow former champion Alain Menu failed to complete many laps in his BMR Passat and was 18th fastest.
Ollie Jackson's Welch-run Proton made it onto the track for the first time, but did not record a flying lap.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Jason Plato MG 48.719s 26 2. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall 48.731s +0.012s 30 3. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 48.760s +0.041s 31 4. Sam Tordoff MG 48.762s +0.043s 26 5. Aron Smith BMR VW 48.777s +0.058s 32 6. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 48.783s +0.064s 28 7. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 48.800s +0.081s 27 8. Gordon Shedden Honda 48.856s +0.137s 24 09. Matt Neal Honda 48.890s +0.171s 28 10. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 48.954s +0.235s 31 11. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes 48.968s +0.249s 25 12. Rob Austin RAR Audi 48.984s +0.265s 31 13. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford 49.013s +0.294s 28 14. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 49.076s +0.357s 28 15. Rob Collard WSR BMW 49.115s +0.396s 27 16. Nick Foster WSR BMW 49.184s +0.465s 31 17. James Cole UA Toyota 49.261s +0.542s 25 18. Alain Menu BMR VW 49.277s +0.558s 7 19. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford 49.341s +0.622s 32 20. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 49.493s +0.774s 28 21. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall 49.528s +0.809s 25 22. Dave Newsham AmD Ford 49.531s +0.812s 30 23. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota 49.552s +0.833s 8 24. Marc Hynes MG 49.563s +0.844s 15 25. Simon Belcher Speedworks Toyota 49.758s +1.039s 23 26. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 50.006s +1.287s 27 27. Robb Holland Rotek Audi 50.054s +1.335s 29 28. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota 50.335s +1.616s 28 29. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet 50.799s +2.080s 18 30. Olile Jackson Welch Proton 53.378s +4.659s 12
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments