Snetterton BTCC: MGs of Tordoff and Plato uncatchable in practice
MG dominated British Touring Car free practice at Snetterton, with Sam Tordoff ending up fastest
Having topped the Dunlop tyre test last month, the Triple Eight-run works MG6s of Jason Plato and Tordoff again set the pace and were the only cars to get below 1m58s around the 300 circuit.
Double champion Plato led the way in the morning and went even quicker later on, but two late laps from Tordoff put him on top of the timesheets with 1m57.388s. That was 0.2 seconds faster than Frank Wrathall's 2012 pole.
Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Honda Civic was third in the first session and briefly challenged Tordoff later on, but was ultimately bumped to fourth by the works Civic of Gordon Shedden.
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Dave Newsham's Speedworks Toyota Avensis set almost identical times in both sessions to end up fifth as the team targets the podium after recent set-up improvements.
Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) made it two Toyotas in the top six and Aron Smith was the quickest of the Motorbase Ford Focuses thanks to his time set in session one.
Croft dominator Colin Turkington was eighth in his WSR BMW, while championship leader Matt Neal, running with 45kg of success ballast, struggled to get into the top 10.
His best of 1m59.060s, set in session two, put him a second behind Honda team-mate Shedden and 1.7s down on Tordoff.
Practice one: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Jason Plato MG 1m57.870s 2. Sam Tordoff MG 1m57.985s +0.115s 3. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m58.237s +0.367s 4. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 1m58.334s +0.464s 5. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 1m58.379s +0.509s 6. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 1m58.430s +0.560s 7. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m58.615s +0.745s 8. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m58.736s +0.866s 9. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m58.949s +1.079s 10. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m58.990s +1.120s 11. Matt Neal Honda 1m59.097s +1.227s 12. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 1m59.115s +1.245s 13. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m59.378s +1.508s 14. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 1m59.640s +1.770s 15. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m59.726s +1.856s 16. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW 1m59.771s +1.901s 17. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m59.812s +1.942s 18. Will Bratt Austin Audi 2m00.358s +2.488s 19. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 2m00.672s +2.802s 20. Andy Neate IP Chevrolet 2m01.021s +3.151s 21. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 2m01.056s +3.186s* 22. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 2m01.330s +3.460s 23. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 2m01.700s +3.830s* 24. James Kaye AmD Honda 2m02.019s +4.149s* 25. Robb Holland Hard Vauxhall 2m02.594s +4.724s 26. David Nye Welch Ford 2m02.601s +4.731s* 27. Warren Scott BMR VW 2m08.258s +10.388s * S2000 Practice two: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Sam Tordoff MG 1m57.388s 2. Jason Plato MG 1m57.629s +0.241s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m58.078s +0.690s 4. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 1m58.346s +0.958s 5. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m58.444s +1.056s 6. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 1m58.649s +1.261s 7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m58.850s +1.462s 8. Matt Neal Honda 1m59.060s +1.672s 9. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m59.099s +1.711s 10. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 1m59.117s +1.729s 11. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 1m59.187s +1.799s 12. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m59.371s +1.983s 13. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 1m59.397s +2.009s 14. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW 1m59.538s +2.150s 15. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m59.618s +2.230s 16. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m59.796s +2.408s 17. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 2m00.090s +2.702s 18. Will Bratt Austin Audi 2m00.459s +3.071s 19. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 2m00.522s +3.134s 20. Nick Foster WSR BMW 2m00.616s +3.228s 21. Robb Holland Hard Vauxhall 2m01.341s +3.953s 22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 2m01.718s +4.330s* 23. David Nye Welch Ford 2m01.730s +4.342s* 24. James Kaye AmD Honda 2m02.000s +4.612s* 25. Andy Neate IP Chevrolet 2m02.049s +4.661s 26. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall * * S2000
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