Brands Hatch BTCC: Jason Plato takes pole as Matt Neal crashes
Jason Plato took his fourth 2013 British Touring Car Championship pole in the season finale at Brands Hatch after rival Matt Neal crashed out
Plato and his Triple Eight MG team-mate Sam Tordoff swapped times at the top before Neal's works Honda Civic got sideways at Paddock Hill Bend and crashed into the inside barriers.
Neal emerged unscathed but the red flags flew, leaving just 15 minutes of running at the restart.
Plato went even faster after the session resumed with a 1m31.225s lap, then 1m31.214s, while Tordoff also improved to be within 0.036s of the double champion.
Behind the dominant MGs, championship leader Andrew Jordan completed the top three in his Eurotech Honda with a run in the final five minutes.
Gordon Shedden also improved in the closing moments to put the sole remaining works Civic on row two.
Adam Morgan's Ciceley Toyota left it late but managed a 1m31.678s to put him ahead of Colin Turkington's WSR BMW, which set its time early in the session and then struggled later on. The 2009 champion even had an off as he tried to improve.
Tom Onslow-Cole was the top Motorbase Ford Focus in seventh, helped by the fact that team-mate Aron Smith missed the session after his free practice crash.
NGTC debutant Jake Hill was a fine 10th in Rob Austin Racing's second Audi A4, while Neal ended up 16th fastest.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Jason Plato MG 1m31.214s 10 2. Sam Tordoff MG 1m31.250s +0.036s 13 3. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m31.586s +0.372s 14 4. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m31.663s +0.449s 15 5. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 1m31.678s +0.464s 15 6. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m31.709s +0.495s 14 7. Tom Onslow-Cole Motorbase Ford 1m31.712s +0.498s 15 8. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m31.771s +0.557s 15 9. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m32.058s +0.844s 13 10. Jake Hill Exocet Audi 1m32.180s +0.966s 15 11. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 1m32.240s +1.026s 15 12. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m32.375s +1.161s 13 13. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m32.570s +1.356s 17 14. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m32.621s +1.407s 15 15. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 1m32.706s +1.492s 15 16. Matt Neal Honda 1m32.724s +1.510s 6 17. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 1m32.751s +1.537s 10 18. Warren Scott BMR Volkswagen 1m32.907s +1.693s 15 19. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 1m33.505s +2.291s 15* 20. Aiden Moffat Hard Volkswagen 1m33.637s +2.423s 16 21. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m33.640s +2.426s 7 22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1m33.770s +2.556s 15* 23. Tom Barley RCIB Vauxhall 1m34.480s +3.266s 15 24. Shaun Hollamby AmD Volkswagen 1m35.055s +3.841s 13* 25. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford -
* S2000
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments