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[EwanM]

Plato on pole ahead of Scots

Jason Plato has qualified on pole position on the grid for the first of tomorrow’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Knockhill circuit in Scotland.

Plato, driving his Racing Silverline Chevrolet, set a best lap of 53.370s to achieve pole – his third of the season – and score a bonus point. He will surely see tomorrow as a possible chance to get himself back into the title race after losing touch with the leaders at Snetterton two weeks ago.

Former Champion Plato, who has an unrivalled previous six wins at Knockhill, said: “I’ve said before it’s win or bust from now on. It’s my only way back and even then it requires the others to make a bit of a mess of it. While it’s still possible I’ll never give up, but I expect three very hard races tomorrow.”

Indeed, starting behind him in second and third and eager to please their home crowd will be two Scottish drivers – Gordon Shedden (Cartridge World SEAT) and Jonathan Adam (Airwaves BMW).

Shedden’s second place on the grid also marks the first-ever front row qualifying position for his team run by fellow Scot, Glaswegian Colin Neill.

The Dalgety Bay racer said: “It’s a great result – we’re a one-car team this weekend and to be second to Jason Plato and the might and experience of the RML team that runs his car is no disgrace.”

Adam, aged 24 from Kinghorn and in his first season in the BTCC, added: “I’m pretty happy with that, but maybe it could have been better had I not gone of the road early in the session. Whether I can make the BMW’s rear-wheel-drive pay off the start I don’t know – it’s pretty narrow here and the run to the first corner is quite short. I just want three good races.”

Fourth fastest was championship leader Colin Turkington in his Team RAC BMW and with closest rival Fabrizio Giovanardi, the reigning champion, qualifying his Vauxhall Vectra off the pace in 11th position, the Northern Irishman will sense an opportunity to take a real grip on the title race.

Matt Neal, seventh on the grid, will also be hopeful of closing back up to Giovanardi after dropping behind his team-mate in the standings at Snetterton. And Neal needs a decent set of results if he’s to prevent Plato, now just nine points behind, from catching him for third in the table.

Tomorrow’s three races will be shown live tomorrow on the ITV4 TV channel during a mammoth broadcast from 11.30am-6.00pm.

For full qualifying times click here: http:/www.btcc.net/html/raceresults_detail.php?race_id=62&season_id=52

Meanwhile, it was heartbreak for Snetterton giant-killer Paul O'Neill - he'd just gone second fastest outright only to spin his sunshine.co.uk Honda Integra into a gravel trap, forcing a brief halt to proceedings. Not permitted to re-start the session, he could then only watch as he fell to an eventual, but still nevertheless, competitive tenth overall just over half a second from the pole position time.


1 3 I Jason Plato Chevrolet Lacetti 53.370s 24 -- 85.75mph
2 52 I Gordon Shedden SEAT Leon 53.443s 18 +0.073s 85.63mph
3 12 I Jonathan Adam BMW 320si E90 53.488s 23 +0.118s 85.56mph
4 4 I Colin Turkington BMW 320si E90 53.540s 24 +0.170s 85.48mph
5 11 I Robert Collard BMW 320si E90 53.596s 25 +0.226s 85.39mph
6 2 I Mat Jackson Chevrolet Lacetti 53.622s 24 +0.252s 85.35mph
7 5 Matt Neal Vauxhall Vectra 53.626s 22 +0.256s 85.34mph
8 77 Andrew Jordan Vauxhall Vectra 53.787s 18 +0.417s 85.09mph
9 44 I Stephen Jelley BMW 320si E90 53.826s 26 +0.456s 85.02mph
10 29 I Paul O'Neill Honda Integra 53.893s 7 +0.523s 84.92mph
11 1 Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall Vectra 53.924s 16 +0.554s 84.87mph
12 10 I Tom Chilton Ford Focus ST 53.933s 24 +0.563s 84.86mph
13 35 I James Thompson Honda Civic 54.103s 20 +0.733s 84.59mph
14 17 I Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet Lacetti 54.309s 21 +0.939s 84.27mph
15 55 I David Pinkney Honda Civic 54.541s 23 +1.171s 83.91mph
16 50 I John George Honda Integra 54.895s 23 +1.525s 83.37mph
17 63 I Martin Johnson Vauxhall Astra Coupe 55.002s 23 +1.632s 83.21mph

[scotty]

Glad to see Gio and Neal are further back than Turkington. Looking forward to tomorrow!

What happened to Nash??

[7UpJordan]

Good performance from the Airwaves BMW cars, it's a quick starting car as well so Adam could be in a good position to sneak into the lead.

[7UpJordan]

Now that was a big moment in the Ginetta G50 race when Freke lost it and Wrathall had to take to the gravel to avoid him, but at the same time take the lead.

Eat your heart out Jacques Villeneuve!

[GarethStr]

Mega race 2 at Knockhill. What a drive by Matt Neal

[scotty]

Ugh, team orders. I hope Turkington can hold on, these Vauxhalls seem to get faster each meeting...

Awesome driving by Plato though!!

[7UpJordan]

Bad day for Airwaves, that was one weird incident when Adam's fire extinguisher went off unexpectedly.

Great drive by Plato, and it seems everybody's keen to get in on the act of giving Matt Neal a taste of his own medicine today.

[Selcouth_Feline]

Bad day for Airwaves, that was one weird incident when Adam's fire extinguisher went off unexpectedly.

Yeah, really odd?

it seems everybody's keen to get in on the act of giving Matt Neal a taste of his own medicine today.

Fantastic drive by Plato in Race 3!

[EwanM]

Now that was a big moment in the Ginetta G50 race when Freke lost it and Wrathall had to take to the gravel to avoid him, but at the same time take the lead.

Eat your heart out Jacques Villeneuve!

I was laughing when that happened. Thought that Wrathall had puthim off.

Great day at Knockhill... despite it being freezing... my skin appears burnt. Sadly Johnny Herbert was refusing to make much of a public appearance, but you got the usual crowd.
My dad ended up talking to Steve Neal about next year, and I ended up talking to Jason Plato's dad :S random I know.

Great day out as always though. Vauxhall may be in the driving seat now, but I expect the Chevvy's to win the majority of the races coming in for this year.

One thing I don't like is team orders. No need for that. I though Neal was still in the title race anyways?

[EwanM]

[EwanM]

Anyways, I didn't really take many photos this year. Mainly because I didn't bring a camera with me and I hate my phone. Also I was trying to track down Herbert (bleedin camera shy )

[7UpJordan]

Was that a Formula Ford car in the first picture. I heard a commentator mention in one of the support races that there were Formula Fords out first thing in the morning before ITV4's coverage started.

I was a little dissapointed that there were no Formula Renaults or Renault Clio Cup due to the limited paddock space, those races can be chaos.

[EwanM]

Yup it was a shame. Typical laughable Ginetta's though made up for that.

Porsches were annoying.

[7UpJordan]

Porsches were annoying.

I didnt bother watching the Porsche races, I trust they were boring as they normally are.

Tim Harvey is wasting his time doing the Porsches, he should make a BTCC comeback, there's a few drivers on the current grid older than him.

[EwanM]

Porsches were annoying.

I didnt bother watching the Porsche races, I trust they were boring as they normally are.

Tim Harvey is wasting his time doing the Porsches, he should make a BTCC comeback, there's a few drivers on the current grid older than him.

But then he might end up like John George