MG KX Momentum’s Jason Plato is pleased with his performance in qualifying today at Brands Hatch after qualifying sixth for the car’s first British Touring Car Championship race.
Plato had a difficult first practice session, lapping only 20th and four seconds off the pace at the front. However his times rapidly improved throughout the day and in the second practice session was fifth fastest, before qualifying in sixth for the new MG6’s first race.
“I’m happy with 6th place for tomorrow, but delighted that we’re only 2-tenths of a second from the fastest NGTC car, that has done considerably more testing than we have,” said Plato. “The feeling in the car isn’t quite there yet, which is to be expected at this stage of its development; we just haven’t had enough running yet. But huge credit to the Triple Eight crew for getting us this far up the order, so early in the season, it’s a nice reward for them following yesterday’s all-nighter, just to get us ready for today.”
Triple Eight Team Principal Ian Harrison echoed Plato’s comments. “A solid opening day and to be 6th with a brand new car that hasn’t tested is a huge testament to the guys in the garage and back at Triple Eight,” he said. “We won’t get carried away though and know that there’s still a lot of hard work ahead, but today gives us a solid base to work from and so overall I’m pleased.”
Andy Neate in the second MG had less to be happy about. He could only manage 19th in the first two practice sessions and his times didn’t improve like Plato’s, leaving the former Team Aon driver 19th on the grid for tomorrow’s first race.
“I’m a little frustrated with this afternoon, as seeing my fastest lap time removed (for exceeding the track limits) clearly means we could have been higher up, but we’ll look at that.,” admitted 37 year-old Neate. “The feeling in the car is very different to the S2000 spec car I raced last year and so that’s going to take some time to get used too. We’ve improved throughout the day though and so I’m hopeful ahead of race day tomorrow.”