CHILTON ON BTCC POLE POSITION AT BRANDS HATCH
Tom Chilton has qualified on pole position for Sunday's opening
round of the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship
season at Brands Hatch. But there's been a disaster for reigning
Champion Matt Neal (Droitwich) - he'll start from the back
of the grid after crashing on his first qualifying lap.
Chilton, driving Vauxhall's Astra Sport Hatch, achieved pole
position in a time of 48.975 seconds. The 21-year-old from
Reigate said: "It's a great way to start my career with
Vauxhall. I got every corner perfect and had no cars in my
way. I can't complain."
Lining up alongside Chilton for the start, second on the
grid, will be SEAT's Jason Plato (Oxford) whose team-mate
James Thompson (Harrogate) will be directly behind in third.
Plato and Chilton have exchanged heated words in the run-up
to tomorrow's opening round and Chilton reckons Plato's Leon
will have a start line advantage, adding: "The SEAT's
lighter than my car and, with the camber of start-finish straight,
he could nose ahead. It will be very close into the first
corner. I need a perfect start. I'm certainly expecting a
few little 'love taps'."
Plato added: "We were a little bit too conservative
with our qualifying set-up on the car and we only just got
beat. We'd already shown in the practice sessions that our
car is the quickest in race trim. I predict a SEAT 1-2 tomorrow."
Lining up fourth on the grid will be the TEAM RAC MG ZS of
Colin Turkington (Portadown). Turkington said: "I'm very
pleased with that, especially as the team has a new look for
2006. It's a great way to start and hopefully, after what's
been said earlier in the week, there'll be a bit of bother
in front of me and I can take advantage."
After winning his first BTCC Drivers' title at Brands Hatch
last year, meanwhile, Neal has a mountain to climb from near
the back of the grid in 15th. His Integra had just left the
pit lane when it suffered brake failure and spun off the track
at the Druids hairpin bend.
The 39-year-old said: "I realised I was going way too
fast so threw the car sideways - it dug into the gravel trap
and almost rolled over. Overtaking is very difficult around
here and even getting through the midfield lot will be tough.
At least this has happened today. Tomorrow would have meant
no points."
Leading Dunlop MSA BTCC qualifying times, Brands
Hatch
1. Tom Chilton (GBR), Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, 48.975s
2. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Leon, 49.045s
3. James Thompson (GBR), SEAT Leon, 49.200s
4. Colin Turkington (GBR), MG ZS, 49.210s
5. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch,
49.312s
6. Gavin Smith (IRL), Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, 49.318s
7. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Honda Integra, 49.334s
8. Mike Jordan (GBR), Honda Integra, 49.443s
9. Rob Collard (GBR), MG ZS, 49.531s
10. James Kaye (GBR), Honda Civic Type R, 49.759s
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