Jason Plato set the fastest time around the new Snetterton 300 circuit in this morning’s first free practice session for the British Touring Car Championship. Plato was one of only three drivers to dip below the 2-minute mark as he set a lap of 1:59.797 to go quickest. Gordon Shedden was second in his Honda, 0.126 behind, with James Nash in third, 0.157 seconds off Plato.
Click here for the full first practice times.
Current points leader Matt Neal was fourth fastest, despite carrying the maximum success ballast of 45kg. Tom Chilton was the top Team Aon driver in fifth – his team-mates Tom Onslow-Cole and Andy Neate both had difficult sessions that saw them finish in 17th and 20th respectively, over 2 seconds off the pace.
Andrew Jordan was sixth fastest, just ahead of the second normally-aspirated Chevrolet Cruze of Alex MacDowall. David Newsham in the STR SEAT had one of his strongest practice sessions of the year to go 8th fastest.
The top Airwaves Racing car was Mat Jackson in ninth, just over a second off Plato’s pace. His team-mate, Liam Griffin, could only manage 21st in the session and will be hoping to improve in the lunchtime session.
Making his debut this weekend is Martin Byford – the new signing for AmD Milltek Racing.com. The former Clio Cup racer was a respectable 12th fastest in the team’s Volkswagen Golf – marking one of their strongest practice showings of the season so far.
The top NGTC-sepc car was Frank Wrathall who set the 13th quickest lap – 1.5 seconds off the front-running pace. Rob Austin, however, was less than half a second further back in 15th, having continued development on the car over the summer break.
Taking place on a dry track, the session saw all 26 cars taking to the track at one point or another – the largest field of BTCC car since the final meeting in 2007. The session will have generated particular interest amongst fans, not only because of the opportunity to see the touring cars on the new circuit for the first time, but also because the new Proton Gen-2 being run by Welch Motorsport made its debut during the session. Welch managed just 5 laps, and was over 6 seconds off the pace, but the fact that the car is on track this weekend is a positive sign for the team.
The second free practice session takes place at 1225 on Saturday.