Oulton Park BTCC: Jason Plato's MG fastest in practice
Jason Plato set the pace in British Touring Car Championship free practice at Oulton Park
The works MG driver was quickest for much of the morning's free practice session and set several times good enough to end up on top.
Plato's 1m26.227s then remained unbeaten throughout the second session, which was topped by a late charge from Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Honda Civic at 1m26.605s.
That effort prevented Plato from topping both sessions and was 0.002 seconds faster than the second MG of Sam Tordoff had managed in the morning.
Reigning champion Gordon Shedden was third in both sessions and ended up fourth overall in his works Honda, while Colin Turkington showed the improvement in form of the WSR BMWs by ending up fifth.
Championship leader Matt Neal made it three Civics in the top six, though his 45kg of success ballast means he is likely to struggle to match the top runners come qualifying.
Speedworks Motorsport feels it has made good progress with its Toyota Avensis and Dave Newsham ended up seventh in his example.
Lea Wood's 1m28.619s effort in the first session was enough to top the S2000 class in his Vauxhall Vectra.
Practice one: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Jason Plato MG 1m26.227s 2. Sam Tordoff MG 1m26.607s + 0.380s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m26.784s + 0.557s 4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m26.942s + 0.715s 5. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m26.994s + 0.767s 6. Matt Neal Honda 1m27.181s + 0.954s 7. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 1m27.521s + 1.294s 8. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 1m27.548s + 1.321s 9. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m27.724s + 1.497s 10. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m27.897s + 1.670s 11. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 1m28.030s + 1.803s 12. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m28.060s + 1.833s 13. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW 1m28.079s + 1.852s 14. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 1m28.166s + 1.939s 15. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m28.255s + 2.028s 16. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall* 1m28.619s + 2.392s 17. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 1m28.886s + 2.659s 18. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m28.928s + 2.701s 19. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 1m28.960s + 2.733s 20. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m29.036s + 2.809s 21. Will Bratt Austin Audi 1m29.477s + 3.250s 22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford* 1m30.212s + 3.985s 23. Aaron Mason AmD VW* 1m31.091s + 4.864s 24. James Cole Hard Vauxhall 1m31.252s + 5.025s 25. David Nye Welch Ford* 1m31.721s + 5.494s Practice two: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m26.605s 2. Jason Plato MG 1m26.644s + 0.039s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m26.701s + 0.096s 4. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m26.990s + 0.385s 5. Sam Tordoff MG 1m27.029s + 0.424s 6. Matt Neal Honda 1m27.125s + 0.520s 7. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 1m27.222s + 0.617s 8. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m27.342s + 0.737s 9. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m27.489s + 0.884s 10. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m27.673s + 1.068s 11. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 1m27.677s + 1.072s 12. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 1m27.798s + 1.193s 13. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW 1m27.906s + 1.301s 14. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 1m28.229s + 1.624s 15. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 1m28.246s + 1.641s 16. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m28.265s + 1.660s 17. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 1m28.284s + 1.679s 18. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m28.396s + 1.791s 19. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m28.573s + 1.968s 20. James Cole Hard Vauxhall 1m28.691s + 2.086s 21. Will Bratt Austin Audi 1m28.935s + 2.330s 22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford* 1m29.001s + 2.396s 23. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall* 1m29.042s + 2.437s 24. Aaron Mason AmD VW* 1m29.866s + 3.261s 25. Warren Scott BMR SEAT* 1m30.794s + 4.189s 26. David Nye Welch Ford* 1m30.945s + 4.340s
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