Matt Neal was the pacesetter in the second free practice session at Oulton Park this afternoon after setting a late time of 1:27.917. Neal, who had missed much of the early part of the session as his mechanics fixed a steering problem, set the quickest time despite carrying the maximum 45kg of success ballast.
Click here for the full times from second practice.
Alex MacDowall was the second fastest driver having also set a fast time late in the session. The second works Chevrolet of Jason Plato was not far behind though, just 0.137 seconds behind in third.
One of the biggest improverments from the first session was that of Paul O’Neill, who set the fourth fastest time at his local track. O’Neill was over a second and a half off the pace in the first session, but this time out he lapped within four tenths of a second of the session’s pace.
Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan was once again fifth fastest, just ahead of the morning’s pace setter Gordon Shedden who was sixth.
Rob Collard continued to show strong form around the sunny Cheshire circuit and was seventh fastest. Much of the lower half of the top ten was in the same order as first practice, with Jackson 8th, Boardman improving up to 9th and Tom Chilton 10th fastest this time around.
Airwaves Racing’s second car of Liam Griffin made a small improvement over his first session – jumping from 17th to 13th quickest and making up seven tenths of a second. Tail ender Chris James also found a second and a half to move up from the bottom of the time sheets to 21st.
Rob Austin continued to be the best of the NGTC drivers in 20th. His team have changed engine supplier since the last round, moving from a Ric Wood prepared engine to a Lehmann-built unit. This is the same unit being raced by Special Tuning Racing and AmD Milltek Racing and the switch appears to have paid off, with improved reliability and pace. Additionally the team have been able to shed 90kg of weight off the already overweight Audi A4.
Frank Wrathall and Lea Wood failed to set a time during the session. Wrathall’s Dynojet team were making changes to his power steering during the session, whilst Wood attempted, and failed, to set a lap time as his car stopped with mechanical problems.
The session was briefly red flagged due to Jeff Smith going off the track at Druids. He could only manage the 18th fastest time as a result of his session ending early.