Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan was fastest in Saturday’s second practice session at Thruxton, which took place in dry and bright conditions after rain had thwarted first practice earlier in the day.
Click here for the full second practice results.
Jordan’s pace was scintilating as he beat teammate Smith by 0.403 seconds, with only six cars able to get within a second of his time despite the Midlander having to sit out the last 15 minutes of the session, with a front left puncture and a driveshaft failure bringing his running to a premature end. Jordan set his time after a frantic start to the session,
Matt Neal ensured it was a Honda 1-2-3 with a 1:18.507, but that still was almost seven-tenths of a second behind Jordan, who carries 36 kg of ballast into tomorrow’s race. Neal also endured a mixed session, as his car came to a halt out on track after ten minutes, which brought out a red flag.
Time in the session continued to elapse, so when the drivers were able to return to the track there was a frantic rush to set lap times. Adam Morgan had been one of the few drivers to take it easy after the restart, but he burst into the life in the final minutes of the session to claim fourth pace, to continue his impressive start to the season.
The MGs of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff lit up the timing screens initially as they headed a 1-2 of their own, before Jordan eclipsed their times. They ended up fifth and seventh respectively, with Plato experiencing a tyre failure of his own moments before Jordan.
Tom Onslow-Cole put in a strong performance to split the two MGs in his Volkswagen Passat, and he was able to put together a significant run where other drivers were losing their tyres desplite a slide at the chicane, eventually completing 20 laps.
There were more signs of optimism for eBay Motors as Colin Turkington and Rob Collard were ninth and tenth after trouble-free runs for the pair, but the second session was a struggle once more for Airwaves, with Mat Jackson and Aron Simth only 12th and 14th in the times.
Liam Griffin eventually came out on top in the S2000 times after Lea Wood again set the early pace.