Rising star Mat Jackson has
qualified on pole position for tomorrow’s opening round of the 2008 HiQ MSA
British Touring car Championship at Brands Hatch.
On a drying track Jackson, driving a
BMW 320si for the BMW Dealer UK Team, timed his run to perfection in the final
minutes of this afternoon’s qualifying session to achieve the first pole of his
BTCC career with a time of 49.348s.
Second and third fastest were
reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and Team RAC driver
Colin Turkington (BMW 320si).
Jason Plato qualified SEAT’s new
diesel-powered Leon fourth on its debut as less than a second covered the
fastest 14 drivers.
Jackson, aged 26 from Henley-in-Arden,
said: “That was tough… 25 cars on a 1.2 mile circuit and only one dry line to
take made things really hectic at the end.
“I could see the others were getting
faster all the time and we all had to go off-line to pick our way past a few
slower cars. I guess I just found a bigger gap than everyone
else.
“But it’s
a great start to our 2008 season and hopefully the BMW’s rear-wheel-drive will
give me the start I need tomorrow. The start will be important because otherwise
getting ahead of the likes of Fabrizio, Colin and Jason is going to be very hard
work.”
Leading qualifying
times:
Pos./Driver (NAT), Team/Car,
Time
1. Mat
Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, 49.348s
2.
Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.019s
3.
Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, + 0.123s
4.
Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.163s
5. Tom
Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.217s
6.
Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.284s
7.
Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, + 0.403s
8.
Steven Kane (GBR), Motorbase/BMW 320si, + 0.419s
9. Tom
Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, + 0.564s
10.
Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.610s
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