Plato heads front row BTCC lockout for MG

Jason Plato will start the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Rockingham tomorrow (Sunday) from pole position after the double champion produced a stunning lap that edged out his MG team-mate Sam Tordoff.

Tordoff had been trading provisional pole position with the WIX Audi A4 of Rob Austin before Plato’s record-breaking lap around the 1.94 miles of tarmac at Rockingham Motor Speedway. Young gun Tordoff held on to confirm yet another front-row lockout for the MG KX Momentum Racing squad while Austin will be delighted to have backed-up his recent Knockhill pace with another top order showing here.

Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan was next up and despite only lining up fourth on the grid, he saw three of his main title rivals qualify behind him. Reigning champion Gordon Shedden was fifth while his Honda Yuasa Racing team-mate Matt Neal in seventh. The other Pirtek Honda of Jeff Smith was sandwiched between them in sixth.

Dave Newsham showed good speed again to take eighth ahead of championship contender Colin Turkington in the eBay Motors BMW. Will Bratt made it two Audis in the top ten as he produced his best qualifying session of 2013 so far.

Lea Wood in his Vauxhall Vectra won the Jack Sears Trophy battle after Liam Griffin’s Addison Lee Motorbase Ford Focus had set the pace during the early running.

The session was briefly halted when Frank Wrathall’s Dynojet Toyota Avensis had to be retrieved from the gravel after the talented young racer endured a spin. Despite the brief reprieve qualifying was and furious throughout with just over eight tenths of a second covering the top 14 runners when the chequered flag fell.

Tomorrow’s pivotal triple-header of BTCC races gets underway at 11:27 with the full day of racing being broadcast live and in high definition on ITV4.

Jason Plato said: "I knew if we did everthing right we’d be on pole but that’s the frustration sometimes this season as we’ve made too many mistakes. We hold our hands up when we make mistakes but now we need to sharpen up because this is obviously a really tough championship. It’s an important pole position and great that both Sam and I are up there, but we’ve got a tough job to do tomorrow. Sam is out there for himself too so there’ll be no protection but I am looking forward to it as I think there’ll be some great racing."

Sam Tordoff said: "It's a good result and it’s great for the team. It was vital that we bounced back as a team after Knockhill and a one-two is the perfect way to do it. Personally for me I felt that I should have had pole, but I just didn’t pull off a lap that I was completely happy with. So there’s a little bit of time in me but it’s difficult to complain when you’re on the front row. The championship is dead and buried for me so it’s all about going for wins, which is what I’ll trying to do tomorrow. We don’t really know what to expect with the weather but we’ve given ourselves a great chance."


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