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Plato & Turner lead SEAT 1-2 in Snetterton qualifying |
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Saturday, 12 July 2008 |
SEAT's two
drivers Jason Plato and Darren Turner will start the first of tomorrow's three
HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk from the front
row of the grid.
Their
turbo-diesel Leon TDIs dominated qualifying with Plato achieving pole position in
a time of 1m11.145s - well inside the lap record. Turner, in second, was close
behind with a best time of 1m11.267s.
Oxford-based
Plato, fourth in the current standings, said: "Perfect. Our car is working
beautifully here and I only needed a couple of laps to produce that time. But
tomorrow is a different day and despite the nice gap back to the others we'll
be taking nothing for granted.
"I've said before, though, that is a make or break weekend in terms of the
championship."
Gordon
Shedden headed the rest of the field with the third fastest time in his Team
Halfords Honda Civic, with reigning Champion and current championship leader
Fabrizio Giovanardi fourth in his Vauxhall Vectra VXR - a great effort in a car
carrying maximum success ballast.
But there
were dramas for Italian Giovanardi who, after setting his time, had his
car break down at the side of the track. Team-mate Matt Neal, who is
second
in the standings, was back in 11th
after a spin.
Leading
times, BTCC qualifying Snetterton (provisional):
1. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, 1m11.145s
2. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, +0.122s
3. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.491s
4. Fabrizio Giovanardi (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.542s
5. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.569s
6. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.643s
7. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +0.886s
8. Steven Kane (GBR), Motorbase/BMW 320si, +1.090s
9. Adam Jones (GBR), Team Air Cool/SEAT Leon, +1.094s
10. Stephen Jelley (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +1.215s
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