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Practice report

Plato dominates BTCC practice at Donington

Team BMR's Jason Plato showed his intent by topping both free practice sessions for the second round of the BTCC at Donington Park.

Jason Plato, Team BMR

Jason Plato, Team BMR

Pat Cranham/PSP Images

Jason Plato, Team BMR
Jason Plato, Team BMR
Gordon Shedden, Honda Yuasa Racing
Gordon Shedden, Honda Yuasa Racing
Andrew Jordan, Triple 8 MG

Plato left it late to go quickest in the opening session of the day, narrowly deposing previous Andrew Jordan’s Triple Eight MG in the closing stages before improving by almost six tenths of a second to a 1m09.665s.

A late surge by works Honda driver Gordon Shedden put the Scot second quickest, 0.589s behind Plato, with Jordan knocked down to third ahead of BMR Volkswagen duo Colin Turkington and Aron Smith and the Mercedes A-Classes of Adam Morgan and Aiden Moffat.

The session was interrupted by a red flag with 15 minutes remaining, brought out by contact between Jack Goff’s MG and Hunter Abbott’s Audi. The latter was forced to miss the second session due to damage, while the former was handed a reprimand and two penalty points on his licence.

In the second session, Plato shot to the head of timesheets early on, establishing a benchmark of 1m09.553s with only 10 minutes of the session gone.

It was a time that would remain unbeaten for the remainder, despite a flurry of late improvements that occurred after another red flag period, this time for Stewart Lines’ stricken Toyota.

Shedden once more went second quickest, 0.431s slower than Plato, with Jordan again third fastest, 0.581s adrift of the two-time BTCC champion. Turkington and Smith ensured an identical top five to the morning session, with Mike Bushell’s Ford climbing to a creditable sixth.

FP1 Results:

Pos

Driver Car Time/Gap
Jason Plato Volkswagen 1m09.665
Gordon Shedden Honda 0.589
Andrew Jordan MG 0.617
Colin Turkington Volkswagen 0.658
Aron Smith Volkswagen 0.815
Adam Morgan Mercedes 0.945
Aiden Moffat Mercedes 0.995
Tom Ingram Toyota 1.037
Josh Cook Chevrolet 1.113
10  Dave Newsham Chevrolet 1.217
11  Rob Collard BMW 1.243
12  Matt Neal Honda 1.361
13  Mike Bushell Ford 1.379
14  Warren Scott Volkswagen 1.390
15  Andy Priaulx BMW 1.412
16  Rob Austin Audi 1.416
17  Sam Tordoff BMW 1.484
18  Martin Depper Honda 1.600
19  Jeff Smith Honda 1.907
20  Simon Belcher Toyota 2.211
21  Jack Goff MG 2.267
22  Alex Martin Ford 2.814
23  Kieran Gallagher Toyota 3.133
24  Andy Wilmot Proton 7.983
25  Derek Palmer Jr. Infiniti 10.638
26  Hunter Abbott Audi 13.135
27  Richard Hawken Infiniti 16.651
28  Stewart Lines Toyota no time

FP2 Results:

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
Jason Plato Volkswagen 1m09.553s
Gordon Shedden Honda 0.431
Andrew Jordan MG 0.581
Colin Turkington Volkswagen 0.594
Aron Smith Volkswagen 0.681
Mike Bushell Ford 0.989
Tom Ingram Toyota 1.055
Aiden Moffat Mercedes 1.112
Matt Neal Honda 1.140
10  Jack Goff MG 1.181
11  Adam Morgan Mercedes 1.252
12  Dave Newsham Chevrolet 1.274
13  Rob Austin Audi 1.309
14  Sam Tordoff BMW 1.335
15  Warren Scott Volkswagen 1.417
16  Josh Cook Chevrolet 1.444
17  Martin Depper Honda 1.464
18  Jeff Smith Honda 1.648
19  Rob Collard BMW 1.680
20  Andy Priaulx BMW 1.885
21  Simon Belcher Toyota 2.030
22  Alex Martin Ford 2.041
23  Kieran Gallagher Toyota 2.536
24  Andy Wilmot Proton 3.898
25  Derek Palmer Jr. Infiniti 4.269
26  Stewart Lines Toyota 5.525
27  Richard Hawken Infiniti 6.888
28  Daniel Welch Proton 20.448

 

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