SHEDDEN PIPS NEAL TO BTCC POLE POSITION AT ROCKINGHAM
Scotland's Gordon Shedden has qualified on pole position
for the first of tomorrow's three HiQ MSA British Touring
Car Championship rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire
- and immediately dedicated it to fellow countryman David
Leslie.
Shedden, driving a Team Halfords Honda Civic, became embroiled
in a fierce battle for top spot on the grid with former team-mate
Matt Neal and came out ahead by 0.227s with a best lap of
1m24.327s.
The Dalgety Bay-based driver dedicated his pole to Leslie
who died in last month's air accident near Biggin Hill in
Kent.
Shedden, aged 29, said: "It's great for everyone in
my team, but this is for David. I hope I can go on and get
a win or two for him tomorrow as well.
"But it's going to be tough. I know Matt and I know
how much he wants to win but I'm confident. We've done some
very good development work with our car in the week and we're
in very strong shape."
Former double champion Neal, now driving for the VX Racing
team in its title-winning Vauxhall Vectra VXR, set the second
best time with a lap in 1m24.554s.
A shock third - outperforming both factory SEAT Leon TDIs
- was rising star Adam Jones in his privately-entered Team
Air Cool SEAT Leon. The Spanish make's factory turbo-diesel
Leons of Darren Turner and Jason Plato were fourth and fifth
ahead of Vauxhall's Tom Onslow-Cole in sixth.
Points leader Fabrizio Giovanardi - his Vectra laden with
maximum success ballast - was back in tenth, one place behind
his current nearest championship rival Mat Jackson's BMW Dealer
Team UK BMW 320si.
Leading qualifying times:
Pos./Driver (NAT), Team/Car, Time
1. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, 1m24.327s
2. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.227s
3. Adam Jones (GBR), Team Air Cool/SEAT Leon, +0.327s
4. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.335s
5. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.433s
6. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR,
+ 0.443s
7. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, + 0.477s
8. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, + 0.542s
9. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, +0.654s
10. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra
VXR, + 0.019s
More quotes:
Matt Neal, aged 41 from Droitwich: “This is more like
it. I was still feeling my way with the car at Brands Hatch
two weeks ago, but now I’m really getting to grips with
it. I thought we’d got pole but Gordon put in a great
lap right at the end. But being on the front row means I’m
in a position to go out and score lots of points. I need to
make the most of it."
Adam Jones, aged 27 from Solihull: “That’s
my best qualifying performance in the BTCC and of course I’m
delighted, but more pleasing is that this shows just how much
effort the team has put in. We only got the car finished the
day before Brands Hatch but every time out we’ve made
progress. The team also had to do a quick engine change before
qualifying after we had problems in second practice so full
credit to all my mechanics.”
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