Jason Plato has taken pole position for the first of tomorrow’s British Touring Car races around the new Snetterton 300 circuit. In the closing minutes of the session Plato was able to set a lap of 1:58.691 to deny Gordon Shedden the pole position that he had held on to for much of the session.
Click here for the full qualifying results.
Plato’s pole position lap was a mere 0.025 seconds faster than that set by Honda driver Shedden. After losing pole position, Shedden did later rejoin the circuit to attempt to retake it but with little time left in the session he was unable to improve and had to settle for second.
The second works Chevrolet of Alex MacDowall will line-up third, once again highlighting the strength of the Chevrolet Cruze around Snetterton despite the changes- the RML Chevrolet team had a 1-2 in qualifying here last year. However it was not all plain-sailing for MacDowall – a fire on his Chevrolet meant that he was unable to improve his time and could only complete 4 laps. Alongside him on the second row of the grid is Matt Neal who set his time carrying maximum success ballast for leading the championship.
James Nash qualified in fifth position and he will have Team Aon’s Tom Chilton, sixth, alongside him on the grid.
An impressive seventh in qualifying, thanks to a rapid late lap, was Frank Wrathall. The Dynojet Toyota racer actually set an identical lap time to sixth placed Tom Chilton but will start seventh due to having set the lap time after Chilton. It is the first time Wrathall, indeed any NGTC car, has qualified inside the top ten.
Dave Newsham was eighth quickest in his Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon and will have Paul O’Neill alongside him in the Tech-Speed Chevrolet Cruze.
Tom Onslow-Cole improved on his practice pace to round out the top ten. There was less luck for the other Team Aon car of Andy Neate who struggled once again and will start from 18th for the first race tomorrow.
Andrew Jordan had a difficult qualifying session by his 2011 standards – his 11th place means it is the first weekend he has qualified outside the top ten. Rob Collard also had a difficult session and could only manage 12th.
BTCC newbie Martin Byford will be disappointed with his qualifying lap that left him lining up in 19th. The AmD Milltek Racing driver had been as high as 10th in practice but he was unable to find the pace between sessions that his rivals could and his qualifying lap ended up slower than his second practice lap.
On his début in the BTCC Daniel Welch was an impressive 20th out of 26 cars in qualifying. The NGTC Proton Gen-2 racer was 2.2 seconds off the fastest pace – a creditable performance given that the car was barely finished before the meeting. In fact Welch outqualified experienced racer John George who drives a World Championship proven Chevrolet Cruze – no mean feat in itself.
Chris James and Tom Boardman both failed to set a competitive time and will start from the back row of the grid in 25th and 26th places respectively.