FREE PRACTICE 1

It was a sunny Croft circuit that welcomed teams, drivers and fans on Saturday morning. The BTCC runners were out on track early in the morning for their first free practice session of the day.

Early signs were that Vauxhall have made progress in their attempts to chase down the pace-setting Team Halfords Honda Integras, with Colin Turkington topping the times at the end of the session, ahead of VX Racing teammate, Yvan Muller. Jason Plato was third in the quickest of the Seat Toledo Cupras, ahead of Dan Eaves in fourth. Gavin Smith was fifth fastest, ensuring all three Astra Sport Hatches were inside the top five.

James Pickford was sixth, and Tom Chilton seventh, while championship leader Matt Neal ended the first session in eighth, having completed just eight laps. Rob Collard and Luke Hines rounded out the top ten, with Mark Proctor eleventh.

Richard Williams was the sole HPI Racing Lexus to run in the session, completing five laps, while bio-ethanol powered newcomer, Fiona Leggate, managed just two laps in her ex-Triple Eight Astra Coupe before suffering a suspension failure.

FREE PRACTICE 2

In the second session of the day, Jason Plato was quickest for Seat Sport UK, setting a time of 1:26.469, which was just three hundredths of a second faster than Matt Neal, who, along with teammate Dan Eaves, resumed a more regular service for Team Halfords. Fourth was Tom Chilton, while Yvan Muller was the quickest Astra in fifth.

James Pickford was sixth fastest, while James Kaye, having missed the first session, completed just thirteen laps but still managed to set the seventh quickest time in his Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic. Colin Turkington, Gavin Smith and Luke Hines completed the top ten.

Rob Collard was eleventh, and Ian Curley ran for the first time this weekend, putting in the 12th best time, pipping teammate Richard Williams by three tenths of a second.

Mark Proctor was 14th fastest, completing just four laps after an alternator failure. The Fast-Tec Motorsport driver said, “It’s really frustrating. We lost the first session too, so it’s not helping us get on the pace.”

QUALIFYING

Qualifying for round 13 of the championship proved to be a race between the fast starters, with most of the top times being set early on in the session. Dan Eaves was first to top the list, before Yvan Muller set a time of 1:26.851 to take provisional pole position away from the Team Halfords driver.

The Frenchman was then toppled by his own teammate, Colin Turkington, making it an all Vauxhall front-row, which lasted for much of the session, before Matt Neal jumped up to second spot with just six minutes remaining. Turkington held on at the front to take his and Vauxhall’s second pole position of the season.

Turkington said, “We haven’t really done much different, I’ve just pulled my finger out a bit. The team did a test last week, but they didn’t really learn anything, so we just really got our heads together and looked at how we were at the start of the season and we’ve gone back to that.”

Muller and archrival Plato start on the second row, just days after Plato urged his former teammate to forget their past differences and work together to topple the dominant Team Halfords Hondas. The third row is an all Honda affair, with Tom Chilton (Civic Type-R) just out-pacing Dan Eaves (Integra). Gavin Smith, James Kaye, Rob Collard and Luke Hines round out the top ten.

James Pickford was 11th, ahead of Mark Proctor, who only managed 7 laps in the problem-prone ex-Collard Astra Coupe. Fiona Leggate made steady progress during the session, consistently shaving tenths from her best laptime over the half-hour period, eventually ending up with a time of 1:30.067.

Leggate said, “I am really happy with how we’ve qualified. We’re just trying to get to know the car. It’s brilliant to be here, but I just want to get a little bit better each time we go out in the car. Hopefully we can keep improving.”

Ian Curley was the quicker of the Lexus drivers, just over two-tenths faster than Richard Williams. Raceday at Croft starts with the pitlane walkabout and autograph session at 10:20AM, with the first race starting at midday.