A breathless session saw a quite staggering 23 cars blanketed by just eight-tenths of a second with positions changing at almost every moment. Such was the competitiveness that the ballast-laden VW of Jason Plato could only manage 22nd on the grid, although the double champion has cited an as-yet-unknown problem with his Team BMR RCIB Insurance machine. Jason Plato, right after the race:
Regular Knockhill front-row starter Rob Austin could only manage sixth this time around, but it still represented his best performance of the season in the Exocet AlcoSense Audi A4. Neal held on to seventh despite his spin.
MG’s Andrew Jordan took eighth with his last attempt also ruined after he ran wide and into the gravel in his Pirtek-backed MG6.
Ninth wouldn’t normally be something to celebrate for Colin Turkington, but the reigning champion was Team BMR RCIB Insurance’s top performer and he also maintained his record of qualifying inside the top ten of every 2015 event. Adam Morgan’s WIX Racing Mercedes was relegated to tenth by Turkington with the duo split by just 0.001s. Unbelievably close gaps continued throughout the order with the likes of Snetterton race winner Jack Goff, Aron Smith and Plato among the notable absentees from the top ten.
Plato was another to abort his last flyer attempt following a trip through the gravel and the double champion had to settle for the lowest grid position in his BTCC career the championship leader will have it all to do from 22nd on the grid. Plato has suggested, however, that he’ll likely start from the pitlane as he did at Croft earlier this season in a bid to grab pole position for race two.
Smith wasn’t the only driver to return to the track relatively unscathed after a spin as both the Honda of Matt Neal and the Ford Focus of Alex Martin also endured moments during the session.
West Surrey Racing again showed well in third, fifth and seventh respectively with championship challenger Sam Tordoff getting the better of his more experienced team-mates Andy Priaulx and Rob Collard.
Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan proved that they’ll be in the mix again this afternoon with solid top-six results in practice.
Adam Morgan, Jason Plato and Tom Ingram completed the top ten order, but all three faced different challenges. Morgan again left it late to fire his Mercedes A-Class up the order while Plato’s Team BMR RCIB Insurance squad admits it may not be setting the ultimate pace this weekend. Speedworks again broke into the leading ten with Ingram, but its Achilles heel seems to be getting much beyond that. Qualifying will determine whether Ingram can haul his Toyota Avensis into the fight for a top-six grid berth.
