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Chilton fastest in Brands practice

Tom Chilton was a surprise pace-setter in practice for the final round of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch as the timesheet took on an unusual look

With his season having gradually gathered momentum after a poor start, Chilton was third quickest in the morning session and improved his time by half a second in the afternoon to take the top spot in his Arena Ford Focus.

His lap of 1m33.503s was a little over a tenth of a second quicker than Paul O'Neill, who was another surprise name near the top in his aged Tech-Speed Honda Integra.

Third fastest was Motorbase BMW driver Jonathan Adam, who headed the RML Chevrolets of Jason Plato and Mat Jackson, which were expected to set the pace from the outset.

Plato, who lies 28 points behind championship leader Colin Turkington with 52 up for grabs this weekend, was the quickest of the three title contenders during practice.

Turkington was only 10th quickest in his WSR BMW, seven tenths off the pace and one place behind Fabrizio Giovanardi, who has endured a trying day so far.

After the Vauxhall squad changed the differential on his car following problems in the first session, Giovanardi completed only one flying lap before spinning off at Paddock Hill Bend and bedding his car in the gravel.

That incident brought out the red flags and prevented him from getting much useful running during the session.

The Vauxhall squad had already been hard at work after the first session as Matt Neal, after setting a time that would remain the quickest of the session, ground to a halt on the run up to Druids. His engine was changed between sessions.

Ex-Formula 1 ace Johnny Herbert was 17th quickest, behind his Team Dynamics Honda team-mate David Pinkney, while rookie Matt Hamilton lost most of the first session to a gearbox issue on his TH Motorsport Honda.

Pos Driver                  Car                  Time
 1. Tom Chilton             Ford            1m33.503s
 2. Paul O'Neill            Honda           1m33.640s
 3. Jonathan Adam           BMW             1m33.790s
 4. Jason Plato             Chevrolet       1m33.821s
 5. Mat Jackson             Chevrolet       1m33.843s
 6. Matt Neal               Vauxhall        1m33.914s
 7. Tom Onslow-Cole         Ford            1m33.922s
 8. Andrew Jordan           Vauxhall        1m34.102s
 9. Fabrizio Giovanardi     Vauxhall        1m34.215s
10. Colin Turkington        BMW             1m34.228s
11. Rob Collard             BMW             1m34.331s
12. Stephen Jelley          BMW             1m34.341s
13. Anthony Reid            BMW             1m34.460s
14. Gordon Shedden          SEAT            1m34.558s
15. David Pinkney           Honda           1m34.693s
16. Harry Vaulkhard         Chevrolet       1m35.217s
17. Johnny Herbert          Honda           1m35.287s
18. Matt Hamilton           Honda           1m36.099s
19. John George             Honda           1m36.156s
20. Martyn Bell             Honda           1m36.637s
21. Martin Johnson          Vauxhall        1m38.015s

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