THOMPSON HEADS VAUXHALL 1-2 IN QUALIFYING
Plato In Pit Lane Row With Keen
Championship leader James Thompson took his second pole position
of the season by heading Green Flag MSA British Touring Car
qualifying this afternoon (Saturday) at Oulton Park.
Vauxhall driver Thompson set a best lap time of one minute,
27.638 seconds in his Astra to pip team-mate and reigning
champion Yvan Muller to the top spot. Matt Neal was the leading
HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy runner, third fastest overall
in the Computeach Racing with Halfords Honda Civic.
Thompson’s time was the fastest ever recorded for a
BTCC car around the revised Oulton Park circuit. But he said:
“My times were fast, but from a satisfaction point of
view inside the car I wasn’t happy. I made mistakes
and should have been faster.”
Provided Thompson takes up his pole position at the start
of tomorrow’s (Sunday) first of three BTCC rounds, he
will earn a bonus point – stretching his championship
lead to five points over team-mate Muller. Briton Thompson
also currently leads Muller 3-1 in the victory stakes –
a statistic the Frenchman is bound to want to rectify this
weekend.
Fourth fastest in qualifying was Colin Turkington, in WSR’s
MG ZS. Completing the top six were Vauxhall’s Luke Hines
and the BTCC’s most controversial driver of the moment,
WSR’s Anthony Reid – last weekend voted ‘a
villain’ on ITV1’s Speed Sunday motor sport show.
The qualifying session also saw SEAT Sport UK driver Jason
Plato and privateer Justin Keen, in Edenbridge Racing’s
BMW, square up in the pit lane after stumbling over each other
on the track. Plato ended up 14th fastest and Keen 16th.
Plato fumed: “Keen just got in the way of me when I
was on a fast lap. He must have been blind not to see me.
He should go back to driving school.”
Keen replied: “Jason’s just making excuses about
drivers getting in the way because he’s not fast enough.”
Plato’s team-mate Robert Huff qualified an excellent
tenth fastest overall. He started the session late as his
mechanics worked miracles to patch up his battered Toledo
after a high-speed crash during second free practice earlier
in the day.
Two drivers worth watching in the first of tomorrow’s
three races could be Neal’s team-mate Dan Eaves and
Team Sureterm’s Kelvin Burt. The former’s Honda
failed to run cleanly during qualifying and he was only 17th
fastest. Burt’s car stopped on track before he had set
a competitive lap time and he will line up 20th on the starting
grid.
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