TURKINGTON & BENTWOOD MAKE IT INDEPENDENTS DAY AT BRANDS
HATCH
HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy drivers Colin Turkington
and Michael Bentwood have sensationally beaten the Green Flag
MSA British Touring Car Championship’s factory team
drivers by qualifying first and second on the grid for tomorrow’s
(Sunday) fourth round at Brands Hatch.
WSR driver Turkington’s MG ZS moved to the top of the
times early on in this afternoon’s (Saturday) 30-minute
qualifying session and stayed there throughout to achieve
his first BTCC pole with a time of 49.432 seconds. Bentwood,
driving VX Racing Junior Tech-Speed’s Vauxhall Astra
Coupe put in a late burst to steal second place on the grid.
Turkington, who achieved his first BTCC race victory at Brands
last year, said: “We tried lots of set-ups in free practice
and really hit a sweet spot with the car. I won’t feel
any extra pressure just because I’m on pole for the
first time - I’m here to get the race won. I’m
on pole by over one tenth of a second and that’s a lot
around here and from testing I know the car works well over
a race distance.”
An equally delighted Bentwood added: “I had problems
at the end of the session, as the car was leaning over to
the right through the left-hand corners. But to get second
on the grid for race one, ahead of the manufacturer-backed
cars, is fantastic and I’m starting alongside a driver
that I trust. I’m going all out for a win.”
After suffering a dramatic fire aboard his Astra in morning
practice, factory Vauxhall driver James Thompson was third
fastest and Matt Neal, in Computeach Racing with Halfords’
Honda Civic Type R, fourth. The SEAT Toledo Cupra of Robert
Huff was the fastest of the ETCC-spec cars in fifth, just
ahead of Tom Chilton’s Team Honda Civic.
Thompson’s team-mate Yvan Muller, the reigning champion
and current championship leader, was seventh. Muller’s
Astra qualified laden with maximum success ballast following
his third round win at Thruxton a fortnight ago. The Frenchman
said: “I’m about where I expected to be in comparison
to James - because of the extra weight in my car - but seventh
is not ideal. Maybe my engineer and I could have got a bit
more time from the car.”
When told that starting alongside him on the grid will be
WSR’s Anthony Reid - the driver with whom he ended up
in a brawl in the Brands Hatch paddock last year - Muller
replied: “Really? Oh no. I didn’t realise that!”
Former champion Jason Plato, who won for SEAT Sport UK at
Thruxton a fortnight ago, was back in 12th. He said: “My
car had an unpredictable power steering problem. With that
sorted, and looking at what Rob has achieved, I know I would
have been quite a few places higher.”
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