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British Touring Car Championship
Silverstone - Qualifying - 15/10/11

By MJP Media | 15 October 2011

Matt Neal steals the show in Silverstone qualifying, claiming provisional pole amid warning flag controversy as rival Jason Plato struggles in qualifying a disappointing seventh.

Matt Neal qualifies in pole position for the first race
Matt Neal qualifies in pole position for the first race

On a beautiful sunny afternoon and without a cloud in the sky it was action stations as the potentially championship impacting qualifying session got underway at Silverstone. With both the Honda Racing Team Civics of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden solid in both the free practice sessions, all eyes were on Jason Plato in the Silverline Chevrolet Cruze after his earlier poor showing. Was there a problem with the Chevrolet at this, the deciding round of the season?

At the start of qualifying, the cars did two warm-up laps to get the tyres ready for action and then the serious work began. Rob Austin was the early leader after 4 laps before Matt Neal and then Gordon Shedden took the top spot with Tom Chilton 3rd.

After a third of the session, Shedden led from Tom Chilton's Team Aon Ford Focus with Matt Neal 3rd, and Frank Wrathall 4th. With Mat Jackson 6th and Jason Plato 7th, the Hondas were looking good. Halfway through the session Matt Jackson took the lead with Shedden immediately responding on the same lap to reclaim the provisional pole.

With 10 minutes to go, James Nash put in a sensational lap to go 2nd behind Gordon Shedden whilst Jason Plato's woes continued as his team-mate Alex MacDowall went 4th, still leaving Plato in 7th. As the minutes counted down, Mat Jackson went fastest again, only to be pipped by Matt Neal with 3 minutes to go, despite a warning flag being shown to Neal for exceeding the circuit limits. Mat Jackson gambled with 2 minutes to go, fitting 2 new front tyres, but the gamble didn't pay off, leaving him 2nd.

Going into race 1 tomorrow, it is Matt Neal on provision pole, from Mat Jackson 2nd, Gordon Shedden 3rd and James Nash 4th. The other title contender, Jason Plato, was only 7th so tomorrow has a real look of excitement about it and we just can't wait!


Mat Jackson keeps his championship campaign alive
Mat Jackson keeps his championship campaign alive

 

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