Plato and Jackson on front row for Racing Silverline

Sat 30th May 2009 Jason Plato left it late to snatch pole position for round 10 of the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship, edging out his Racing Silverline teammate Mat Jackson in the final minute of the half-hour session.

Team RAC’s Colin Turkington held provisional pole position for the first half of the session, until Jackson put his Chevrolet Lacetti to the top of the times. Jackson looked to have secured the first qualified pole position for Racing Silverline, but was pipped to that honour by Plato on his final fast lap of the afternoon.

Plato’s time of 1:27.186 is a new qualifying lap record for the Oulton Park Island circuit, beating James Thompson’s 2004 time by just under half a second.

Plato said, “I didn’t really get my eye in on my first run, but I knew the time was in the car. Luckily I managed to put the time in on my third lap. We knew if we could get the balance right, the car would be strong around here. I’m very pleased. The guys have worked tremendously hard since the start of the year, so I just want to say a big thanks to everyone at Racing Silverline and RML.”

Mat Jackson said, “It’s great for Racing Silverline – it puts us in the best place for the first race tomorrow, so now we just have to bring it home. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Behind Plato and Jackson, Colin Turkington is third on the grid in the fastest of the BMWs, just ahead of Adam Jones – the best qualifying performance so far for Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing.

Jonathan Adam is the quicker of the Airwaves BMWs, sharing the third row of the grid with reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi. Stephen Jelley and Andrew Jordan start seventh and eighth respectively, in front of Rob Collard and championship leader Matt Neal.

Sunday’s first race is scheduled to begin at 12:15.