Jelley fastest in Donington practice
Stephen Jelley topped today's practice times for this weekend's British Touring Car Championship round at Donington Park
Jelley, who lies seventh in the championship, went quickest in both the morning and afternoon sessions in his WSR BMW, setting the overall pace in 1m13.402s in the later session.
His time edged out the Tempus Sport Chevrolet of the impressive Harry Vaulkhard by just three thousandths of a second. Two-time champion James Thompson was third quickest, only four hundredths of a second off the pace in the best of the Team Dynamics Hondas.
Jason Plato was fourth, despite losing most of the first session to a crank sensor issue on his RML Chevrolet, while the Vauxhalls of Fabrizio Giovanardi and Matt Neal - the latter carrying the maximum 45kg of success ballast this weekend, were next up.
Rob Collard was the highest-placed of the drivers who failed to improve his time in the later session in seventh as the Motorbase Performance squad experimented with a variety of set-ups on his BMW.
His team-mate Jonathan Adam was only a thousandth of a second slower in eighth, and Jelley's team-mate Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan's Vauxhall rounded out the top 10.
The Arena Fords of Tom Chilton and Alan Morrison were much improved, the straightline speed figures for both Focuses matching those of the Vauxhalls. The pair were 13th and 15th quickest respectively.
Thruxton star Paul O'Neill had his track time cut down with an off into the gravel at the Old Hairpin in session one, caused by a braking problem on his Tech-Speed Honda Integra.
The throttle on Liam McMillan's Maxtreme SEAT stuck open near the end of the session, forcing him to pull off the circuit at Coppice late on, while Nick Leason's AFM BMW was nine seconds off the pace in session one, a legacy of a broken clutch that forced him to spend the second session on the sidelines.
Dan Eaves was another to sit out session two, the engine of his Clyde Valley Racing SEAT suffering a problem on the first lap of the opening session. The team remain hopeful of having his car ready for qualifying.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Stephen Jelley BMW 1m13.402s 2. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet 1m13.405s 3. James Thompson Honda 1m13.443s 4. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m13.660s 5. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall 1m13.729s 6. Matt Neal Vauxhall 1m13.743s 7. Rob Collard BMW 1m13.782s 8. Jonathan Adam BMW 1m13.783s 9. Colin Turkington BMW 1m13.786s 10. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 1m13.827s 11. Paul O'Neill Honda 1m14.272s 12. Adam Jones SEAT 1m14.347s 13. Tom Chilton Ford 1m14.561s 14. Dave Pinkney Honda 1m14.695s 15. Alan Morrison Ford 1m14.763s 16. Mat Jackson Chevrolet 1m14.788s 17. John George Honda 1m14.826s 18. Martyn Bell Honda 1m14.893s 19. Martin Johnson Vauxhall 1m15.388s 20. Liam McMillan SEAT 1m15.547s 21. Nick Leason BMW 1m22.732s 22. Dan Eaves SEAT no time
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