Silverstone BTCC: Jason Plato leads the way in practice
MG's Jason Plato set the quickest time in free practice ahead of round nine of the British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone
In the opening 40-minute session, Plato lapped the National Circuit layout in 58.498s in his Triple Eight-built MG6.
That was 0.118s quicker than Dave Newsham's Speedworks-run Toyota Avensis, and Newsham then went on to top the second session in the afternoon, lapping in 58.694s.
"I didn't expect this," said Newsham. "We've got a different set-up, way different than before, and it's mega. Short runs, long runs, the lot. It's a bit on a knife-edge, but we've dialled that out as the day's gone on. Its really nice to drive now."
Frank Wrathall was second fastest in the afternoon, the third-quickest lap of the day in his Dynojet-run Toyota.
Reigning champion Gordon Shedden was third fastest in the morning, despite a black flag to tick him off for exceeding track limits - one of three such penalties handed out in the first session, as cars took too much apex and ran too wide at Copse Corner.
Sam Tordoff was third fastest in the afternoon, ahead of Adam Morgan (Toyota) and Plato. Tom Onslow-Cole was fifth fastest in his Motorbase Ford in the morning, but admitted to struggling with his Focus's handling.
Matt Neal, driving with a broken finger, was seventh fastest in both sessions in his Honda. Championship leader Andrew Jordan was sixth and 14th in the two sessions, and said of his pace: "It's better than I thought it would be."
Practice one Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Jason Plato MG 58.498s 20 2. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 58.616s +0.118s 25 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 58.915s +0.417s 30 4. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 58.936s +0.438s 28 5. Tom Onslow-Cole Motorbase Ford 58.945s +0.447s 15 6. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 58.978s +0.480s 26 7. Matt Neal Honda 58.980s +0.482s 23 8. Sam Tordoff MG 59.088s +0.590s 22 9. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 59.095s +0.597s 24 10. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 59.223s +0.725s 26 11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 59.249s +0.751s 27 12. Howard Fuller Hard Volkswagen 59.345s +0.847s 28 13. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 59.350s +0.852s 23 14. Warren Scott BMR Volkswagen 59.356s +0.858s 14 15. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 59.394s +0.896s 25 16. Rob Austin Austin Audi 59.474s +0.976s 25 17. Andy Neate IP Tech Chevrolet 59.504s +1.006s 23 18. Will Bratt Austin Audi 59.602s +1.104s 25 19. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 59.634s +1.136s 23 20. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 59.673s +1.175s 22 21. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 59.732s +1.234s 20 22. Rob Collard WSR BMW 59.736s +1.238s 23 23. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m00.054s +1.556s 24 24. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 1m00.220s +1.722s 25 25. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1m00.590s +2.092s 28 26. Aiden Moffat Hard Volkswagen 1m01.424s +2.926s 24 Practice two Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 58.694s 30 2. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 58.715s +0.021s 22 3. Sam Tordoff MG 58.864s +0.170s 24 4. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 58.908s +0.214s 26 5. Jason Plato MG 58.966s +0.272s 24 6. Warren Scott BMR Volkswagen 59.082s +0.388s 30 7. Matt Neal Honda 59.108s +0.414s 25 8. Howard Fuller Hard Volkswagen 59.267s +0.573s 23 9. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 59.276s +0.582s 25 10. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 59.309s +0.615s 31 11. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 59.338s +0.644s 19 12. Gordon Shedden Honda 59.360s +0.666s 22 13. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 59.404s +0.710s 22 14. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 59.419s +0.725s 25 15. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 59.420s +0.726s 26 16. Rob Austin Austin Audi 59.432s +0.738s 26 17. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 59.527s +0.833s 26 18. Rob Collard WSR BMW 59.688s +0.994s 23 19. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 59.981s +1.287s 18 20. Tom Onslow-Cole Motorbase Ford 59.987s +1.293s 13 21. Will Bratt Austin Audi 1m00.057s +1.363s 26 22. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m00.142s +1.448s 26 23. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 1m00.368s +1.674s 30 24. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1m00.381s +1.687s 31 25. Andy Neate IP Tech Chevrolet 1m00.488s +1.794s 9 26. Aiden Moffat Hard Volkswagen 1m00.814s +2.120s 26
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