It was Chevrolet’s Jason Plato who topped the times in the second practice session in the British Touring Car Championship this afternoon – beating Gordon Shedden to the top spot by 0.296 seconds.
Plato, who had been second in the morning’s first session, went to the top of the times in the first half of the session and stayed there throughout – despite Shedden posting a fast lap late on. Plato saw off the Honda man’s attempt to go quickest and immediately improved his own time as drivers explored the continually improving circuit.
Click here for the full second practice times.
Times had tumbled by around a second since the first session as the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit continues to heat up in glorious sunshine. Finding more than a second between the sessions was Tech-Speed’s Paul O’Neill, who set the third fastest time.
Plato’s team-mate Alex MacDowall was fourth quickest, ahead of James Nash in fifth. Joint points leader Matt Neal was sixth fastest – although unlike his team-mate he was ‘only’ able to find three tenths between the two practice sessions.
Dramatically improving upon his form in the first session was Team Aon’s Tom Onslow-Cole, who set the seventh best time and was the only other driver within a second of Plato’s pace. Onslow-Cole managed to improve his time by almost two seconds from earlier in the day, bringing the struggling Team Aon some hope ahead of qualifying especially as Tom Chilton was ninth.
Improving to 10th fastest ahead of his BTCC race debut was Triple Eight’s new driver Ollie Jackson. His fellow debtant Chris Swanwick fared less well however, struggling to 27th quickest as both Rob Austin Racing cars struggled for pace around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
Qualifying takes place at 15:40 later this afternoon.