Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98515Plato's MG6 qualifies for BTCC round 1 in Sixth place
Dave Newsham will start on pole for Sunday's opening British Touring Car round at Brands Hatch after topping qualifying.
The Team ES Racing Vauxhall Vectra driver set a time of 48.483s in the first third of the session. He could not improve thereafter - and had an off – but nobody could beat his early mark.
Reigning champion Matt Neal qualified the new NGTC Honda Civic in second with a late run of 48.615s.
Rob Collard (WSR BMW) and Andrew Jordan (Eurotech Honda Civic) were third and fourth after setting exactly the same time. Jordan's last run was spoiled by Newsham's team-mate, Chris James, as the session ended.
Thanks to electrical issues throughout the day, Gordon Shedden only made it out for the last 10 minutes. He managed a time good enough for fifth – 48.745s – but that was disallowed for going over the track limits. He will therefore start ninth.
Jason Plato was also late out in his new works MG6, but still recorded a sub-49s lap to qualify sixth.
Rob Austin's Audi and Frank Wrathall's Toyota were next, while early pacesetter Nick Foster made it three WSR BMWs in the top 10.
BTCC debutant Adam Morgan was 13th quickest in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota.
Last edited by Windy on Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:44 am; edited 2 times in total