Jason Plato will start Round 22 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship from the second row of the grid, after a brilliant qualifying lap saw the SEAT Sport UK driver record a surprise 3rd fastest time around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.

With 45kgs of success ballast on his SEAT Leon, the Championship leader had feared that he’d qualify towards the middle of the 23 car field. A magnificent team effort saw SEAT Sport UK find the perfect set-up and Jason punched in the perfect lap to qualify ahead of his main Championship rival Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall).

Darren Turner qualified 2nd on the grid, just 0.002 seconds behind pole-sitter Colin Turkington (BMW), to give himself a front row starting position for the first of three BTCC races tomorrow. Despite being delayed by slower cars, Darren held pole for half of the 30 minutes qualifying session, before Turkington set a better time. In response, Darren improved his time, but rain in the last five minutes of qualifying meant that further improvements could not be done on the increasingly slippery circuit.

Importantly, both SEAT Leons qualified ahead of the works Vauxhall, as the fight for the BTCC Manufacturers’ title intensifies.

With the top 16 cars separated by less than a second, Sunday’s three BTCC races around the 1.226 miles track are guaranteed to be exciting.

DRIVER QUOTES

Jason Plato: “With forty-five kilos of ballast on the car, we just wanted to make sure everything was precise for Brands Hatch because it’s such a short lap. The difference between pole and tenth is only four-tenths of a second, so to qualify on the second row of the grid, and in front of the two Vauxhalls, is the best we could have achieved. The engineers have done a great job, it’s been an excellent team effort and it was a good lap.”

Darren Turner: “I couldn’t find a good rhythm in qualifying and the entire session felt bitty, so I’m relieved to be on the front row of the grid. Both my best laps were compromised by traffic, but that often happens on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit. Colin Turkington might well get the jump on me off the line with the rear-wheel drive BMW, but if he does I’m confident I can hunt him down during the race.”