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Scotland's Gordon Shedden has
qualified on pole position for the first of tomorrow's three HiQ MSA British
Touring Car Championship rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire -
and immediately dedicated it to fellow countryman David Leslie
Shedden, driving a Team Halfords
Honda Civic, became embroiled in a fierce battle for top spot on the grid with
former team-mate Matt Neal and came out ahead by 0.227s with a best lap of
1m24.327s.
The Dalgety Bay-based driver dedicated his pole to Leslie who
died in last month's air accident near Biggin Hill in Kent.
Shedden, aged
29, said: "It's great for everyone in my team, but this is for David. I hope I
can go on and get a win or two for him tomorrow as well.
"But it's going
to be tough. I know Matt and I know how much he wants to win but I'm
confident. We've done some very good development work with our car in the week
and we're in very strong shape."
Former
double champion Neal, now driving for the VX Racing team in its title-winning
Vauxhall Vectra VXR, set the second best time with a lap in
1m24.554s.
A shock
third - outperforming both factory SEAT Leon TDIs - was rising star Adam Jones
in his privately-entered Team Air Cool SEAT Leon. The Spanish make's factory
turbo-diesel Leons of Darren Turner and Jason Plato were fourth and fifth ahead
of Vauxhall's Tom Onslow-Cole in sixth.
Points
leader Fabrizio Giovanardi - his Vectra laden with maximum success ballast - was
back in tenth, one place behind his current nearest championship rival Mat
Jackson's BMW Dealer Team UK BMW 320si.
Leading
qualifying times:
Pos./Driver (NAT), Team/Car,
Time
1.
Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, 1m24.327s
2. Matt
Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.227s
3. Adam
Jones (GBR), Team Air Cool/SEAT Leon, +0.327s
4.
Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.335s
5.
Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.433s
6. Tom
Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.443s
7.
Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, + 0.477s
8. Tom
Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, + 0.542s
9. Mat
Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, +0.654s
10.
Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.019s
More quotes:
Matt Neal, aged
41 from Droitwich: “This is more like it. I was still feeling my way with the
car at Brands Hatch two weeks ago, but now I’m really getting to grips with it.
I thought we’d got pole but Gordon put in a great lap right at the end. But
being on the front row means I’m in a position to go out and score lots of
points. I need to make the most of it."
Adam Jones, aged 27 from Solihull: “That’s my
best qualifying performance in the BTCC and of course I’m delighted, but more
pleasing is that this shows just how much effort the team has put in. We only
got the car finished the day before Brands Hatch but every time out we’ve made
progress. The team also had to do a quick engine change before qualifying after
we had problems in second practice so full credit to all my mechanics.”
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