Jason Plato qualified in 4th position, just 0.575 seconds off pole, for Round 28 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch. This isn’t where the 2001 BTCC Champion will start from tomorrow though, as he carries a six grid slot penalty from Silverstone (incurred due to a racing incident) which will see him start from 10th in the first of three races around the Grand Prix Circuit.

Despite suffering from a stomach upset (the result of last night’s dodgy prawn curry), Luke Hines qualified in 9th position and will head the SEAT Sport UK team’s attack on the grid tomorrow. A broken driveshaft hindered James Pickford’s qualifying session, but the team quickly replaced it to enable him to go out and set 11th fastest time.

Jason said: “Our performance during qualifying was probably as good as it could have been. We improved the car a lot from the morning free practice sessions and this afternoon I had the best balance in the car that I’ve had all day. We showed our ultimate pace towards the end of the session as I was a tenth of a second up on my fastest lap when we developed a misfire. Our real pace would have been a one minute thirty three dead which would have only put us one place further up the grid but of course I’ve got to drop six places anyway for the start tomorrow. Starting from tenth I’m going to have to try and stay out of trouble and get as far up the field as I can.”

James said: “As soon as qualifying started we discovered we had a problem with a driveshaft and I came in the pits. The lads did a cracking job to get the car sorted and when I went back out the plan was to try and get in front of some of the independent runners and make life easier for myself tomorrow. It’s really annoying because I showed my true pace this morning as I was fifth quickest. This problem has probably cost me a top five qualifying position so I’m pretty gutted. But these things happen and we’ll just have to see what we can do tomorrow.”

Luke said: “I’m not really with it at the moment as I’m suffering from a nasty stomach upset. I think that’s really affected my driving as I found the session really hard going. It’s just been a bit of a struggle today as I’ve not been feeling well enough to push as hard as I can and get the most out of the car. It’s probably costing me around a second a lap at the moment, but I’m going to go back to the hotel and have an early night and hopefully I’ll feel a lot better tomorrow.”