TURNER ON KNOCKHILL POLE POSITION WITH RECORD LAP
Darren Turner has achieved his second pole position of the
season in Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying
at the Knockhill circuit in Scotland.
SEAT driver Turner (Leamington Spa) took pole with a record
lap around the spectacular Fife track in a time of 53.007s.
Second and third, having both briefly held pole, were Colin
Turkington (Portadown) in his Team RAC BMW and local hero
Gordon Shedden (Dalgety Bay) in his Team Halfords Honda.
Turner’s team-mate, the championship leader Jason Plato
(Oxford) was fourth fastest with title rival, Vauxhall’s
Italian driver Fabrizio Giovanardi right behind in fifth.
Plato goes into tomorrow’s penultimate three rounds
only four points ahead of Giovanardi.
Tomorrow’s three races will each be shown in full by
television network ITV. On ITV4 at 12.30pm there will be a
re-run of race 1 followed by live coverage of race 2. Then
on ITV1 at 2.45pm there will be highlights of the opening
two races followed by live coverage of race 3.
Leading times – BTCC qualifying Knockhill (provisional):
1. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, 53.007s
2. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +0.174s
3. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.217s
4. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, +0.378s
5. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra, +0.593s
6. Mike Jordan (GBR), Eurotech-John Guest-Speedfit/Honda Integra,
+0.658s
7. Tom Chilton (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra, +0.723s
8. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +0.768s
9. Matt Neal (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.799s
10. Gavin Smith (IRL), GR Asia/SEAT Leon, +0.848s
Turner will be hoping to convert pole position for race one
into three strong results tomorrow as he seeks to improve
on his seventh place in the championship. He said: “Provided
I make the most of my start, it all looks extremely promising
as we were also fastest in the two earlier practice sessions.
I’ll be going to sleep in a very good mood tonight.”
Shedden, third in the championship and still in with a mathematical
chance of winning the title, said: “I gave it everything
but Darren’s time was really good. Obviously, there’s
a lot of talk about can I win in front of my home crowd. Nothing
would give me greater pleasure, of course, but the only thing
I can predict is that tomorrow’s races will be fantastic
for those watching at the track and on television.”
Plato, beaten by Giovanardi in the last six races and who
trails the Italian 8-6 on race wins so far this season, added:
“I’m really chuffed with that time considering
my car is carrying maximum ballast (45kgs). I couldn’t
have wrung any more out of it and I’m also two-tenths
up on Fabrizio who has less ballast. It will be very important
to keep in front of him at the first corner tomorrow.”
Giovanardi added: “I have struggled with the set-up
of the car and really had to push to the limit to achieve
my best time. I can’t drive every lap like that tomorrow.
We need to find something overnight to stay in touch with
the others.”
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