A breathless session saw a quite staggering 23 cars blanketed by just eight tenths of a second with positions changing at almost every moment. Such was the competitiveness that the ballast-laden VW of Jason Plato could only manage 22nd on the grid, although the double champion has cited an as yet unknown problem with his Team BMR RCIB Insurance machine. Jason Plato, right after the race:
“Something fundamental has happened TODAY because it was a completely different car to the one we had in free practice”
Smith wasn’t the only driver to return to the track relatively unscathed after a spin as both the Honda of Matt Neal and Ford Focus of Alex Martin also endured moments during the session.
West Surrey Racing again showed well in third, fifth and seventh respectively with championship challenger Sam Tordoff getting the better of his more experienced team-mates Andy Priaulx and Rob Collard.
Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan proved that they’ll be in the mix again this afternoon with solid top six results in practice.
Adam Morgan, Jason Plato and Tom Ingram completed the top ten order, but with all three facing different challenges. Morgan again left it late to fire his Mercedes A-Class up the order while Plato’s Team BMR RCIB Insurance squad admits it may not be setting the ultimate pace this weekend. Speedworks again broke into the leading ten with Ingram, but its achilles heel seems to be getting much beyond that. Qualifying will determine whether Ingram can haul his Toyota Avensis into the fight for a top six grid berth.
