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For the second consecutive event, SEAT's
Jason Plato and Darren Turner completed a qualifying lock-out and will start
the first of tomorrow's three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds
at Oulton Park from the front row of the grid.
Plato, whose two victories at Snetterton a
fortnight ago re-ignited his championship challenge, edged out team mate Turner
by 0.16s for pole position despite carrying an extra 27kg of success ballast, and
was delighted to see his championship rivals further down the grid.
Oxford-based Plato, now third in the
standings, said: "The objective for today was to stick it on the front row and
that's what Darren and I have done. We now need to have a strong day tomorrow
and win some races because we're a long way behind in the points. It's taken
some time to work out what makes this car tick, but we're getting much closer
to the perfect set-up."
Plato and Turner had been consistently
quickest throughout this morning's official practice sessions at the Cheshire circuit and the
pair set their best qualifying times in the early stages of the 30 minute
session. It was a mark that ultimately proved impossible for their rivals to
match, despite a frantic final five minutes after a red flag caused by Chris
Stockton's visit to the gravel trap.
Starting third tomorrow will be Tom Chilton
after a great run in the Team Halfords Honda Civic. The Surrey
man is still looking for his first win of the campaign and will be greatly boosted
by this afternoon's performance.
Tom Onslow-Cole grabbed fourth place with a
last gasp lap to edge out championship leader, reigning champion and VX
Racing team mate Fabrizio Giovanardi. Carrying maximum success ballast
around Oulton Park's undulating and demanding 2.2 miles was always
going to be
tough, but Giovanardi was able to complete the top five, albeit nearly
half a
second behind Plato.
Colin Turkington took the honours as the
leading Independent runner and his Team RAC BMW 320si will start tomorrow's
first race in eighth place. Adam Jones's Team Air Cool SEAT Leon completed
an excellent day to finish ninth while BTCC rookie Andrew Jordan rounded out
the top ten in his John Guest Racing Honda Integra.
Leading
times, BTCC qualifying Oulton Park (provisional):
1. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT
Leon TDI, 1m27.688s
2. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, +0.167s
3. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.444s
4. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.453s
5. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.473s
6. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +0.562s
7. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.564s
8. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW
320si, +0.747s
9. Adam Jones (GBR), Team Air Cool/SEAT Leon, +0.919s
10. Andrew Jordan (GBR), John Guest/Honda Integra, +1.072s
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