Plato quickest in official testing at Brands Hatch

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Tue 23rd March 2010 Jason Plato has set the pace in testing at Brands Hatch today, lapping the 1.2-mile Indy circuit in 48.662 seconds.

The Silverline Chevrolet driver missed the morning’s test session with broken steering, but completed 74 laps in the afternoon. He ended the day 0.155 secs quicker than Gordon Shedden in second.

Steven Kane impressed on his return to BTCC action, setting the third fastest time of the day for Airwaves BMW. Tom Chilton was fourth fastest for Team Aon, making it four different cars at the top of the times.

Matt Neal was fifth fastest for Team Honda, while Rob Collard (West Surrey Racing) was sixth. Collard also took the honours for the most laps completed. His 132 laps equate to almost 160 miles of running during the day.

Making his debut at an official BTCC test, Alex MacDowall was seventh quickest, 0.447 secs behind teammate Jason Plato. Tom Onslow-Cole was eighth for Team Aon and Paul O’Neill was ninth for Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed.

Andrew Jordan was the quicker of the two NGTC-engined Vauxhall Vectras, lapping in 49.273, which left him tenth overall. Mat Jackson ended the day 11th fastest in the second of the Airwaves BMWs ahead of David Pinkney’s Vectra. Andy Neate (WSR), Matt Hamilton (TH Motorsport) and John George (Team Sunshine.co.uk) finished the day 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.

Seven years after he was last in the BTCC, Tom Boardman set the 16th fastest time, but struggled during the day with engine issues on his Special Tuning (UK) SEAT Leon.

Martin Johnson (Boulevard Team Racing) and Lea Wood (Central Group Racing) were 17th and 18th quickest. The final driver to set a time was Arthur Forster, although he was only able to complete 12 laps in his ex-Mat Jackson BMW.

AmD Milltek Racing’s Shaun Hollamby also completed a number of laps during the day, allowing the team to resolve an early misfire. However, he failed to record a time as his transponder was not functioning. The only car at Brands Hatch that failed to make it out on track was Martin Depper’s Forster Motorsport BMW, which is awaiting an engine rebuild.

While no further official tests are scheduled before the opening round of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton on 3rd/4th April, an extended testing window means that teams can test independently until 5.00pm on Wednesday 31st March.