Neal sets early pace at Silverstone

Neal set the pace with a 1:00.518 in the opening minutes of the morning session, but had to sit out most of it due to a problem with his Vauxhall Vectra's engine.

Engine changed, he was able to take to the track for the afternoon session, but was unable to get within four tenths of a second of his earlier pace.

Second overall, a little over two hundredths of a second behind Neal, was SEAT's Jason Plato, who was the Vauxhall driver's main rival in the morning and then set the pace in the second, slower, session.

Championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi put his Vauxhall in third place on the timesheet, while Colin Turkington and Darren Turner both set identical times to put themselves right behind in their BMW and SEAT respectively.

Turner's time came in the second session. His opening one came to an end when he toured into the pits with smoke bellowing from the back of his yellow and green machine.

"I was on an in-lap anyway," Turner said. "But then I got this whizzing sound, looked in my mirrors and there was smoke everywhere."

BMW driver Mat Jackson was sixth quickest overall with Toms Chilton and Onslow-Cole next up. Onslow-Cole was late onto the track in the second session, a gearbox problem having kept him in the pits early on.

Ninth, and the only other man to break the 1:01 barrier, was Chilton's Team Halfords teammate Shedden, while Andrew Jordan completed the top ten in his Eurotech Honda.

The only other notable event was a trip through the gravel at Brooklands by Chris Stockton's BTC Racing SEAT in the second session. Stockton was able to drive his car out and return to the pits.

Combined times:

Pos Driver                  Car               Time    
 1. Matt Neal               Vauxhall      1:00.518
 2. Jason Plato             SEAT          1:00.543
 3. Fabrizio Giovanardi     Vauxhall      1:00.568
 4. Colin Turkington        BMW           1:00.729
 5. Darren Turner           SEAT          1:00.729
 6. Mat Jackson             BMW           1:00.750
 7. Tom Chilton             Honda         1:00.761
 8. Tom Onslow-Cole         Vauxhall      1:00.770
 9. Gordon Shedden          Honda         1:00.863
10. Andrew Jordan           Honda         1:01.035
11. Rob Collard             BMW           1:01.053
12. Harry Vaulkhard         Chevrolet     1:01.083
13. Steven Kane             BMW           1:01.117
14. Stephen Jelley          BMW           1:01.128
15. Adam Jones              SEAT          1:01.206
16. Mike Jordan             Honda         1:01.487
17. Jason Hughes            Honda         1:01.695
18. Michael Doyle           Honda         1:01.838
19. Chris Stockton          SEAT          1:01.852
20. John George             Honda         1:01.732
21. Martyn Bell             Vauxhall      1:02.455
22. Erkut Kizilirmak        Vauxhall      1:03.445