Qualifying at the East Midlands Rockingham circuit got underway today with sunshine filled skies and a moderately dry track, despite the rain showers that had been coming and going throughout the morning.
Despite the change in regulation over the two week break, the two NGTC drivers Frank Wrathall and Rob Austin were looking to continue with their free practise session success – in their fight for pole position.
New regulations this weekend also sees the Turbo cars with a 20 kilo ballast added to their cars. For championship leader Gordon Shedden, qualifying with 45 kilos of ballast was going to be a challenge.
A mixture of tyre choices at the start of the session saw many drivers go out on track to see how the tyres fared before setting any competitive lap times. WSR driver Rob Collard was first to set the pace with a 1 minute 33 second lap, before being taken off the top spot by Honda Racing’s Matt Neal, who crossed the line with a 1 minute 25 – with a slide along the way to prove that he was pushing his Honda to the edge.
Team Aon racer Tom Onslow-Cole was the fastest man on track, putting in a 1 minute 24 second lap with twenty minutes of the session left to go. Meanwhile, Rob Austin and Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan improved to second and third respectively, pushing Neal down the order.
With under twenty minutes of the session to go, no competitive lap time had yet been set by reigning champion Jason Plato, whilst Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall was flying as he came onto the time sheets second - five tenths quicker than Jordan. Rob Austin just piped Wrathall to second place, before both NGTC cars were separated by Triple 8 driver James Nash who’d set a time of 1 minute 24 seconds.
Although being pushed down the order from second, Jason Plato put in a flying lap to be provisional pole whilst rival Neal was lying second.
Tom Onslow-Cole improved his time to go 7th on the grid – being the highest placed Team Aon driver so far in the session – before Martin Byford in the AmD Miltek Golf went ahead into 6th with a 1 minute 24.5.
An unbelievable lap from GoMobileUK’s Paul O’Neill, saw him be the first man to break into the 1 minute 23 second laps – taking provisional pole from Plato, before going wide on the infield to kick up some dust for his fellow competitors.
Both Austin and Neal improved their lap times in the closing stages of qualifying, to be second and third respectively, whilst Plato was now down in fifth position – but on a flying lap in his Chevrolet Cruze.
With Plato now in provisional pole for the second time in the session, O’Neill was still up in second place – and drama was about to take off at Rockingham. A move from Airwaves driver Liam Griffin saw him come into contact with the gravel, leaving bodywork and suspension damage to the front of his car. The session was red flagged with 3:32 minutes of the session remaining.
It was going to be a fight to the finish in the remaining few minutes of Rockingham’s qualifying session. Airwaves Racing’s newest recruit out of the Porsche Carrera Cup, Michael Caine, was lying in 17th place, whilst team mate Mat Jackson was in 9th – putting behind his woes from the Knockhill.
The session was re-started at 15:35, and there was a mad rush on track to get some decent lap times in before the chequered flag fell.
Slight contact between Plato and Neal on the out lap, didn’t seem to effect performance as Plato looked to on another good lap to improve on previous best. But a lock up of brakes and a what seemed to be a lack of power put down on the straight, saw nearest rival Matt Neal hit the back of his Chevrolet, affecting his lap. Despite no noticeable damage, with fifteen seconds of the session remaining, Neal pitted whilst Jason went out for one last minute lap. No first sector improvements for Plato led to him aborting the lap to come into the pits.
Elsewhere on track, no considerable improvements were being made – apart from WSR’s Nick Foster, who moved up to 11th on the grid behind the Golf of Martin Byford.
Plato remained pole in controversial style. A heated discussion between himself and Matt Neal after the session has led to both incidents on and off track to be reported to the stewards for investigation.
Joining the front row is GoMobileUK driver Paul O’Neill, who put in a superb lap time to finish second, ahead of NGTC driver Rob Austin in third.
Championship leader will be starting from sixth on the grid in front of Frank Wrathall who finished the day in 7th ahead of Andrew Jordan. A brilliant qualifying from the AmD Miltek team, sees the VW Golf start from 10th on the grid in the hands of Byford.
A disappointing day from Team Aon see’s Andy Neate starting 12th, Tom Onslow-Cole starting 13th and Tom Chilton starting 14th for tomorrow’s opening race.
On his BTCC debut, Michael Caine in the Airwaves Ford will be starting from 19th on the grid ahead of Dave Newsham in the SEAT.
The action starts tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. on ITV4 and ITV4 HD. It looks set to be a very interesting day.
Despite the change in regulation over the two week break, the two NGTC drivers Frank Wrathall and Rob Austin were looking to continue with their free practise session success – in their fight for pole position.
New regulations this weekend also sees the Turbo cars with a 20 kilo ballast added to their cars. For championship leader Gordon Shedden, qualifying with 45 kilos of ballast was going to be a challenge.
A mixture of tyre choices at the start of the session saw many drivers go out on track to see how the tyres fared before setting any competitive lap times. WSR driver Rob Collard was first to set the pace with a 1 minute 33 second lap, before being taken off the top spot by Honda Racing’s Matt Neal, who crossed the line with a 1 minute 25 – with a slide along the way to prove that he was pushing his Honda to the edge.
Team Aon racer Tom Onslow-Cole was the fastest man on track, putting in a 1 minute 24 second lap with twenty minutes of the session left to go. Meanwhile, Rob Austin and Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan improved to second and third respectively, pushing Neal down the order.
With under twenty minutes of the session to go, no competitive lap time had yet been set by reigning champion Jason Plato, whilst Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall was flying as he came onto the time sheets second - five tenths quicker than Jordan. Rob Austin just piped Wrathall to second place, before both NGTC cars were separated by Triple 8 driver James Nash who’d set a time of 1 minute 24 seconds.
Although being pushed down the order from second, Jason Plato put in a flying lap to be provisional pole whilst rival Neal was lying second.
Tom Onslow-Cole improved his time to go 7th on the grid – being the highest placed Team Aon driver so far in the session – before Martin Byford in the AmD Miltek Golf went ahead into 6th with a 1 minute 24.5.
An unbelievable lap from GoMobileUK’s Paul O’Neill, saw him be the first man to break into the 1 minute 23 second laps – taking provisional pole from Plato, before going wide on the infield to kick up some dust for his fellow competitors.
Both Austin and Neal improved their lap times in the closing stages of qualifying, to be second and third respectively, whilst Plato was now down in fifth position – but on a flying lap in his Chevrolet Cruze.
With Plato now in provisional pole for the second time in the session, O’Neill was still up in second place – and drama was about to take off at Rockingham. A move from Airwaves driver Liam Griffin saw him come into contact with the gravel, leaving bodywork and suspension damage to the front of his car. The session was red flagged with 3:32 minutes of the session remaining.
It was going to be a fight to the finish in the remaining few minutes of Rockingham’s qualifying session. Airwaves Racing’s newest recruit out of the Porsche Carrera Cup, Michael Caine, was lying in 17th place, whilst team mate Mat Jackson was in 9th – putting behind his woes from the Knockhill.
The session was re-started at 15:35, and there was a mad rush on track to get some decent lap times in before the chequered flag fell.
Slight contact between Plato and Neal on the out lap, didn’t seem to effect performance as Plato looked to on another good lap to improve on previous best. But a lock up of brakes and a what seemed to be a lack of power put down on the straight, saw nearest rival Matt Neal hit the back of his Chevrolet, affecting his lap. Despite no noticeable damage, with fifteen seconds of the session remaining, Neal pitted whilst Jason went out for one last minute lap. No first sector improvements for Plato led to him aborting the lap to come into the pits.
Elsewhere on track, no considerable improvements were being made – apart from WSR’s Nick Foster, who moved up to 11th on the grid behind the Golf of Martin Byford.
Plato remained pole in controversial style. A heated discussion between himself and Matt Neal after the session has led to both incidents on and off track to be reported to the stewards for investigation.
Joining the front row is GoMobileUK driver Paul O’Neill, who put in a superb lap time to finish second, ahead of NGTC driver Rob Austin in third.
Championship leader will be starting from sixth on the grid in front of Frank Wrathall who finished the day in 7th ahead of Andrew Jordan. A brilliant qualifying from the AmD Miltek team, sees the VW Golf start from 10th on the grid in the hands of Byford.
A disappointing day from Team Aon see’s Andy Neate starting 12th, Tom Onslow-Cole starting 13th and Tom Chilton starting 14th for tomorrow’s opening race.
On his BTCC debut, Michael Caine in the Airwaves Ford will be starting from 19th on the grid ahead of Dave Newsham in the SEAT.
The action starts tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. on ITV4 and ITV4 HD. It looks set to be a very interesting day.
Qualifying;
1. Jason Plato
2. Paul O’Neill
3. Rob Austin
4. Matt Neal
5. James Nash
6. Gordon Shedden
7. Frank Wrathall
8. Andrew Jordan
9. Mat Jackson
Martin Byford 
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