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British Touring Car Championship
Oulton Park - Free Practice - 6/6/15

By MJP Media | 6 June 2015

Jason Plato takes the early bragging rights for Team BMR at Oulton Park by claiming the best times in both free practice sessions.

Jason Plato was fastest in both free practice sessions

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rolled into Cheshire's picturesque Oulton Park circuit for what promises to be the hottest weekend of the series so far. The early news was that Support Our Paras Racing would be running one car only and that Team BMR had gained a new bonnet sponsor in the form of RCIB Insurance.

Saturday's first free practice session was bright and warm with track temperatures running into the low 20 degrees - ideal for tyre performance. The clear master of this first session was Team BMR's Jason Plato in his Volkswagen CC, posting a fantastic time of 1:25.671. This was half a second quicker than Oulton Park's BTCC qualifying lap record set in 2013 by Plato in an MG.

Tom Ingram was 2nd fastest in the first session

Behind Plato in the first session came local team Speedworks Motorsport whose Toyota Avensis, driven by Tom Ingram, was over half a second down but still faster than the previous race lap record for the circuit. Third was the MG 888 Racing MG 6GT of Andrew Jordan with Plato's two team-mates Aron Smith and Colin Turkington in 4th and 5th.

The second free practice session saw the temperatures climbing even further as the crowd basked in the first real taste of summer that the season has seen. Once again it was the Team BMR Volkswagen CC of Jason Plato that set the pace although he couldn't quite match his time of the first session, posting a 1:25.968. Despite this, he was still 1/3 of a second quicker than any other driver.

Andrew Jordan was in the top 3 in both sessions

Behind Plato, Andrew Jordan was 2nd this time, bettering his 3rd in the first session with Andy Priaulx in the Team IHG Rewards Club BMW 125i M Sport in 3rd place for the session. Outside of these, Jack Goff was having a great day in his MG 6GT with a solid 6th in the first session and 5th in the 2nd session.

With the weather set fair, a great Saturday crowd and the demanding Oulton Park circuit, we are set for a monumental qualifying session this afternoon. Jason Plato is clearly the favourite to claim pole position for the first race tomorrow but in motorsport it is dangerous to take anything for granted. The qualifying report will be available here later this afternoon.

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