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British Touring Car Championship
Oulton Park - Qualifying - 8/6/13

By MJP Media | 8 June 2013

Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff secure a front row lockout for the first race tomorrow by qualifying 1st and 2nd for MG KX Momentum Racing. Gordon Shedden and Dave Newsham take the second row.

Jason Plato heads a front row lockout for MG KX Momentum Racing

The bright and sunny weather continued at Oulton Park as the cars took to the track for the 30 minute qualifying session ahead of race day tomorrow. Sam Tordoff was the first driver to break 1:27 around the picturesque Cheshire circuit however he was soon eclipsed by his MG KX Momentum Racing team-mate Jason Plato who went half a second quicker.

After ten minutes, Plato and Tordoff were still 1st and 2nd with the Honda Yuasa Racing duo of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal 3rd and 4th. Frank Wrathall then went 3rd fastest in the Dynojet Toyota Avensis but dropped to 4th as Shedden went 2nd.

Gordon Shedden qualified 3rd for Honda Yuasa Racing

At the half-way stage, Jason Plato was still fastest with Gordon Shedden 2nd, Sam Tordoff 3rd, Andrew Jordan 4th, Frank Wrathall 5th and Matt Neal 6th. Tordoff then went 2nd fastest ahead of Jordan and Wrathall as Shedden slipped down to 5th. Shedden then put in a fast lap which moved him up to 2nd place but it looked like nobody could beat the time set by Jason Plato's MG6.

With 5 minutes of the session remaining, Matt Neal dropped to 7th place as Colin Turkington went 6th fastest in the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport. Dave Newsham showed that the recent testing by the Speedworks Motorsport team was paying dividends by posting the 4th fastest time in his Toyota Avensis.

Dave Newsham was the fastest on the non-'works' drivers

In the closing minutes, Sam Tordoff improved his lap time to move up to 2nd place and secure a front row lockout for the MG KX Momentum Racing team with Jason Plato taking pole position for the first race tomorrow. Qualifying 3rd, Gordon Shedden will start the first race on the 2nd row of the grid alongside Dave Newsham who was the fastest of the non-'works' drivers. Andrew Jordan qualified 5th for Pirtek Racing and will start on row 3 alongside Frank Wrathall.

With 11 cars qualifying within 1 second of pole-sitter Jason Plato's time and championship leader Matt Neal starting 8th on the grid, the scene is set for a thrilling day of racing from the Oulton Park circuit tomorrow.

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