Neal heads Plato and Shedden in first practice at Brands Hatch
The top three title contenders set the pace in a shortened first British Touring Car practice session on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit this morning
Matt Neal's Honda Civic, the works Chevrolet Cruze of Jason Plato, and the second Civic of Gordon Shedden filled the top three places as the championship fight starts its penultimate weekend.
The Vauxhall Vectras of James Nash (Triple Eight) and Andrew Jordan (Eurotech) set the initial pace before Alex MacDowall's Chevy and then Neal moved to the front. Neal set a sequence of 1m33s laps, with the best being 1m33.344.
Team-mate Shedden held second for a while until a late run from Plato took him to second with 1m33.464s.
A fine effort by Tom Boardman (Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon) netted fourth, from MacDowall, Nash and Jordan.
Shortly after Plato set his lap, Frank Wrathall went off and brought out the red flags, after which the decision was taken not to restart the session. The NGTC cars struggled to match their recent form, Wrathall's Dynojet Toyota Avensis ending up 15th and Rob Austin's Audi 23rd.
BTCC rookie Chris Swanwick, driving the second Rob Austin Audi at a meeting for the first time, was 28th of 29, while fellow debutant Ollie Jackson was 14th in the second Triple Eight Vectra.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Matt Neal Honda 1m33.344s 2. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m33.464s + 0.120s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m33.484s + 0.140s 4. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m33.500s + 0.156s 5. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m33.590s + 0.246s 6. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m33.718s + 0.374s 7. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 1m33.817s + 0.473s 8. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m33.954s + 0.610s 9. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m33.959s + 0.615s 10. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 1m34.254s + 0.910s 11. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m34.334s + 0.990s 12. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT 1m34.387s + 1.043s 13. Michael Caine Motorbase Ford 1m34.514s + 1.170s 14. Ollie Jackson Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m34.573s + 1.229s 15. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m34.921s + 1.577s 16. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 1m34.942s + 1.598s 17. Tom Onslow-Cole Arena Ford 1m35.027s + 1.683s 18. Martin Byford AmD Volkswagen 1m35.049s + 1.705s 19. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1m35.120s + 1.776s 20. Andy Neate Arena Ford 1m35.159s + 1.815s 21. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m35.587s + 2.243s 22. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m35.590s + 2.246s 23. Rob Austin Rob Austin Audi 1m36.048s + 2.704s 24. Tony Gilham Geoff Steel BMW 1m36.401s + 3.057s 25. Lea Wood Central Group Honda 1m37.128s + 3.784s 26. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m37.173s + 3.829s 27. Chris James ES Chevrolet 1m39.023s + 5.679s 28. Chris Swanwick Rob Austin Audi 1m39.109s + 5.765s 29. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota 1m40.417s + 7.073s
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