NEAL BEATS PLATO & THOMPSON TO POLE POSITION IN IRELAND
Reigning Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Champion Matt Neal
has qualified on pole position for the first of the championship's
three rounds at Ireland's Mondello Park circuit tomorrow (Sunday).
Neal, driving his Team Halfords Honda Integra, needed to
set the BTCC's fastest ever lap time around Mondello of 1m45.333s
to achieve pole. Just fractionally slower than him, setting
times of 1m45.388s and 1m45.494s, were the SEAT Leons of past
BTCC champions Jason Plato and James Thompson.
Between them, Thompson and Plato won all three opening rounds
at Brands Hatch a fortnight ago. Thompson currently leads
the standings with Plato fourth and Neal, who crashed heavily
in Brands' third race, playing catch-up in fifth.
"I'm over the moon," said Neal. "I didn't
know if I'd see a pole position this year. This is a great
way to bounce back from Brands Hatch. My car feels absolutely
fantastic but now there's the scenario of what weather we'll
get tomorrow and how to keep those SEATs behind me. It could
be quite entertaining..."
Plato added: "I can't grump because I've gone faster
than I did in practice this morning. There really was nothing
left to come from my car, although we seemed to be just lacking
that little something on the corner apexes. The Hondas are
strong, but it's very close. It's going to be a very tough
race."
Thompson, meanwhile, had to abort his two early runs on new
sets of tyres following accidents involving Martyn Bell and
Fiona Leggate that twice caused the qualifying session to
be stopped briefly. Thompson was still down in 15th with just
minutes to go before he finally got a clear run.
Thompson said: "My two hot laps were spoilt by those
stoppages. It just wasn't working out for me and I ended up
doing my qualifying time on used tyres. I'm really disappointed.
I don't like being third."
Neal's rookie team-mate Gordon Shedden was a hugely impressive
fourth fastest and the Team RAC MG ZS of Northern Ireland's
Colin Turkington, currently second in the points standings
and a winner at Mondello for the past two years, was fifth.
Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi rewarded his VX Racing crew for
rapidly curing a power steering problem on his Vauxhall Astra
Sport Hatch with the sixth fastest time for his first ever
race at Mondello. Ninth fastest was Vauxhall's Gavin Smith
who is looking to become the first Irish driver in history
to win a round of the BTCC.
Tomorrow's three races, rounds four, five and six in the
championship, are scheduled to start at 10.55, 13.20 and 15.50.
Britain's number one commercial terrestrial television channel
ITV1 will be at Mondello to broadcast live coverage of the
action.
Leading BTCC qualifying times, Mondello Park:
1. Matt Neal (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, 1m45.333s
2. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, 1m45.388s
3. James Thompson (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, 1m45.494s
4. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, 1m45.526s
5. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/MG ZS, 1m45.568s
6. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Astra Sport
Hatch, 1m45.960s
7. Tom Chilton (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch,
1m46.009s
8. Robert Collard (GBR), Team RAC/MG ZS, 1m46.307s
9. Gavin Smith (IRL), VX Racing/Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch,
1m46.406s
10. David Pinkney (GBR), Motorbase Performance/Honda Integra,
1m46.890s
|
