FIRST BTCC POLE POSITION FOR TURNER AT ROCKINGHAM
SEAT driver Darren Turner (Leamington-Spa) has taken the
first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship pole position
of his career in qualifying for tomorrow’s (Sunday)
three rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire.
On his final lap, Turner, in his SEAT Leon, set a time of
1m24.908s to edge out the Vauxhall Vectra of Italian Fabrizio
Giovanardi by just 0.028s and steal top spot on the starting
grid. Turner’s team-mate and the championship leader
Jason Plato (Oxford) was third fastest with a best time of
1m25.253s.
Team RAC BMW driver Colin Turkington (Portadown) qualified
fourth fastest, but later had all his times disallowed after
his car failed a weight check procedure at the end of the
session. He has thus been relegated to the back of the 26-strong
grid. Promoted to fourth was Vauxhall’s Tom Chilton
(Reigate) and, to a best-ever fifth, Irish driver Eoin Murray
in Quest Racing's Alfa Romeo. Reigning champion Matt Neal
(Droitwich), second in the current standings in his Team Halfords
Honda Civic, completed the top six.
Top ten qualifying times, BTCC Rockingham:
Pos. Driver (NAT), Team/Car, Time
1. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, 1m24.908s
2. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra, +0.028s
3. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, +0.345s
4. Tom Chilton (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra, +0.450s
5. Eoin Murray (IRL), Quest Racing/Alfa Romeo 156, +0.461s
6. Matt Neal (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.471s
7. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si E90, +0.490s
8. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.551s
9. Mat Jackson (GBR), Jackons MSport/BMW 320si E90, +0.571s
10. Gareth Howell (GBR), Motorbase Performance/SEAT Toledo,
+0.692s
Turner, only tenth in the championship standings, said: "That
was a bit tight. My first run didn’t work out and on
the second I got a lot of slower cars in my way. It meant
I had just one lap left and fortunately it all came together.
Let’s hope being on pole means I can get some good results
and stay out of trouble. I need to get my title chances back
on track."
Giovanardi, fifth in the championship, said: “I will
never be happy when I am not first. I think my final qualifying
lap should have been better, but I made a small mistake into
the hairpin after the start-finish straight. Despite this,
I feel good and I’m going to make it very hard for anyone
to beat me tomorrow.”
Plato, third fastest despite his Leon carrying the maximum
success ballast of 45kgs, said: “I’m very pleased
with that. I think SEAT is a bit of a class act here at Rockingham
as both our cars, with or without weight, are right up there.
It’d be great to see Darren get his first win in the
BTCC but of course I want victories as usual and we’re
both here to help SEAT close the gap to Vauxhall in the Manufacturers’
championship. If everything goes to plan tomorrow, we should
be leaving here with our chests puffed out.”
Tomorrow’s action will receive live television coverage
from 16.00-17.30 on ITV3 with all-day live coverage on subscriber
channel Setanta Sports 2.
|
