TURKINGTON TAKES BRANDS HATCH POLE POSITION
Northern Irishman Colin Turkington has taken pole position
for tomorrow's opening round of the 2007 Dunlop MSA British
Touring Car Championship at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent.
Turkington, from Portadown, set pole position in a time of
49.532s in Team RAC’s BMW 320si E90. Second fastest,
just 0.016s slower, was the SEAT of Jason Plato (Oxford) in
49.548s and third Plato’s team-mate Darren Turner in
49.652s. Turner (Leamington-Spa) had to rely on his time set
earlier in the session after he crashed out.
The top six were completed by Vauxhall team-mates, Italian
Fabrizio Giovanardi and Tom Chilton (Reigate), in their new
VXR Vectras, and Mat Jackson (Henley-in-Arden), an excellent
sixth for what his BTCC debut in his Jacksons MSport team’s
BMW 320si E90. He was just ahead of Turkington’s 19-year-old
team-mate and similarly-impressive newcomer Tom Onlow-Cole
(New Malden). Eighth was Mike Jordan (Sutton Coldfield) in
his Eurotech/John Guest/Speedfit Honda Integra.
Reigning champion Matt Neal (Droitwich) was ninth fastest
of the record 26 runners in his Team Halfords squad's new
Honda Civic in a time of 49.899s. Less than a second covered
the top 15 drivers. Qualifying 15th in one of two bio-ethanol-fuelled
MG ZSs on the grid was Kartworld driver Jason Hughes (Preston).
Making BTCC history, the championship’s first diesel-powered
car, Rick Kerry’s (Ipswich) Team AFM BMW 120D, qualified
25th overall.
Turkington, aged 25 and who finished third in last year’s
championship, said: “This is a great result for everyone
in the team in what is their first meeting with the BMW and
also a great way to start the season. It was very difficult
finding a clear lap with all those cars, but we got our strategy
and timing right and it all worked out. Tomorrow’s three
races will be tough – even though the BMW is very good
off the line with its rear-wheel-drive the pressure from behind
will be immense; the times are so close.”
Plato, the 2001 champion and for whom this weekend marks
a decade since he made his BTCC debut, believes he can turn
the tables on Turkington tomorrow. The 39-year-old added:
“I set quite a few fastest sector times in response
to Colin, but never got the chance to string them together
because of other drivers getting in the way. It would have
been nice if a few of them had looked in their mirrors to
see if anything was coming up behind them! The BMW will be
difficult to beat off the line, but tomorrow’s races
are long and we’ll be lapping people at some point which
is bound to cause a bit of confusion. I predict three very
exciting races, for the drivers and the spectators.”
Turner, aged 30, said: “I’m
pleasantly surprised to be third after going off the track
– I had a brake problem and just went straight on into
the gravel trap. I thought I’d end up way down the order
but I’m still in the hunt.”
Neal, meanwhile, was upbeat about his car’s performance
after it arrived at Brands with limited testing miles. The
40-year-old, champion for the past two seasons, said: “Considering
the quality of the field, it’s a decent start –
I’m less than 4/10ths of a second off the pace in a
car that’s only done a day and a half of testing and
still isn’t set up perfectly. From here I hope we can
score some decent points.”
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