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British Touring Car Championship
Thruxton - Qualifying - 28/4/12

By MJP Media | 28 April 2012

Andrew Jordan qualifies his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic on pole position for the first race from Thruxton tomorrow as problems hit Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden.

Andrew Jordan on his way to pole position for the first race from Thruxton
Andrew Jordan on his way to pole position for the first race from Thruxton

Following rain earlier in the day, qualifying for the first race from Thruxton tomorrow took place on a damp but drying track. The fastest circuit on the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship calendar, Thruxton always produces drama of one kind or another and qualifying was no exception.

Following their top three positions in both the free practice sessions earlier in the day, Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal were unable to build on their success in the qualifying session. With both their Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civics suffering electrical problems, the team-mates could only manage 18th and 19th with Shedden just ahead of Neal.

Jason Plato qualified 2nd before suffering a major crash in his MG6
Jason Plato qualified 2nd before suffering a major crash in his MG6

Further drama ensued when Jason Plato's MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 crashed, stopping the session whilst his car was recovered. After the session re-started, his MG team-mate Andy Neat had a similar incident which stopped the session again. The team believe that the cause of both incidents was the same, possibly a mechanical failure which resulted in snap oversteer. Significant damage was sustained to both cars, giving the MG mechanics a busy night ahead of the 3 races tomorrow.

Honda maintained their dominance at Thruxton with the Pirtek Racing Civic of Andrew Jordan topping the qualifying time sheets and giving him pole position for the first race tomorrow. Jason Plato had already set a fast enough lap time prior to his crash to qualify 2nd and join Jordan on the front row of the grid. Frank Wrathall qualified 3rd in the Dynojet Toyota Avensis ahead of the Redstone Racing Ford Focus of Mat Jackson in 4th with the Vauxhall Vectra of Dave Newsham 5th for Team ES Racing.com and the eBay Motors BMW 320si of Rob Collard 6th.

A well-deserved 3rd place in qualifying for Frank Wrathall and Toyota
A well-deserved 3rd place in qualifying for Frank Wrathall and Toyota

With the weather forecast showing heavy rain and high winds until after midday tomorrow, there is sure to be plenty of action and incident in the 3 races on Sunday. Reports from each race will appear in these pages.

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Andrew Jordan qualifies his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic on pole position for the first race from Thruxton tomorrow as problems hit Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden.

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Gordon Shedden dominated free practice at Thruxton in difficult conditions as Honda get 4 cars in the top six in both sessions.

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