Jason Plato captures pole on Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit

The Chevrolet Cruze ace exchanged top spot with his Honda-mounted title rivals Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden early on before setting a 1m32.264s.

The session was interrupted by two red flags - the first when a wheel came off Chris James's Chevrolet Lacetti at Hawthorn and the second when Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota Avensis) crashed at Clearways - as Plato's rivals edged closer.

But after the second stoppage, Plato swept to a 1m31.874s before retiring to the pits to watch everyone fail to match the mark.

"My car was perfect," he said. "It's just mega - I can attack and carry lots of speed in the corners."

Andrew Jordan (Eurotech/Pirtek Vauxhall Vectra) took a surprise second with a fine 1m32.139s, while a last-gasp charge from James Nash (Triple Eight) made it two Vectras in the top three.

Alex MacDowall was fourth in his works Cruze, ahead of Shedden and Neal, both of whom seemed unable to respond to the improved pace, each carrying 36kg of success ballast.

Title outsider Mat Jackson starred in Motorbase's Ford Focus to qualify seventh, albeit over 0.7s down on Plato.

Although Wrathall was 10th when he went off, he fell down the order as others improved and it was Dan Welch (Welch Proton Gen-2) who topped the NGTC contingent in 11th.

Ollie Jackson qualified the second Triple Eight Vectra 15th for his BTCC debut, just under a second behind team-mate Nash, while fellow debutant Chris Swanwick (Rob Austin Audi) will start 27th on the 29-car grid.


Pos  Driver            Team/Car             Time       Gap
 1.  Jason Plato       Chevrolet            1m31.874s
 2.  Andrew Jordan     Eurotech Vauxhall    1m32.139s  + 0.265s
 3.  James Nash        Triple 8 Vauxhall    1m32.316s  + 0.442s
 4.  Alex MacDowall    Chevrolet            1m32.418s  + 0.544s
 5.  Gordon Shedden    Honda                1m32.442s  + 0.568s
 6.  Matt Neal	       Honda                1m32.444s  + 0.570s
 7.  Mat Jackson       Motorbase Ford       1m32.597s  + 0.723s
 8.  Paul O'Neill      Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m32.650s  + 0.776s
 9.  Tom Onslow-Cole   Arena Ford           1m32.691s  + 0.817s
10.  Tom Chilton       Arena Ford           1m32.704s  + 0.830s
11.  Daniel Welch      Welch Proton         1m32.717s  + 0.843s
12.  Tom Boardman      Special Tuning SEAT  1m32.888s  + 1.014s
13.  Rob Collard       WSR BMW              1m32.960s  + 1.086s
14.  Frank Wrathall    Dynojet Toyota       1m33.113s  + 1.239s
15.  Ollie Jackson     Triple 8 Vauxhall    1m33.243s  + 1.369s
16.  Andy Neate	       Arena Ford           1m33.253s  + 1.379s
17.  Jeff Smith	       Eurotech Vauxhall    1m33.284s  + 1.410s
18.  Michael Caine     Motorbase Ford       1m33.310s  + 1.436s
19.  Martin Byford     AmD Volkswagen       1m33.377s  + 1.503s
20.  Nick Foster       WSR BMW              1m33.451s  + 1.577s
21.  Dave Newsham      Special Tuning SEAT  1m33.551s  + 1.677s
22.  Rob Austin	       Rob Austin Audi      1m33.621s  + 1.747s
23.  John George       Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m34.188s  + 2.314s
24.  Liam Griffin      Motorbase Ford       1m34.241s  + 2.367s
25.  Tony Gilham       Geoff Steel BMW      1m34.300s  + 2.426s
26.  Lea Wood          Central Group Honda  1m34.951s  + 3.077s
27.  Chris Swanwick    Rob Austin Audi      1m35.713s  + 3.839s
28.  Chris James       ES Chevrolet         
29.  Tony Hughes       Speedworks Toyota