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British Touring Car Championship
Croft - Qualifying - 27/6/15

By MJP Media | 27 June 2015

BMW run riot in the British Touring Car Championship qualifying session at Croft Circuit with a 1-2-4 for tomorrow's first race. Championship leader Jason Plato wilts in the sun and will start 12th on the grid.

Sam Tordoff secures pole position for the first race tomorrow

On the hottest afternoon so far of the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, the action was intense at the North Yorkshire Croft circuit as the drivers tried to come to terms with the heat and the new Dunlop BTCC tyres. The BMWs run by West Surrey Racing had looked good in the earlier sessions today, whilst the Team BMR Volkswagen CCs had seemed off the pace. Everyone expected this to be a mighty battle between the two teams with the ever effective Hondas thrown into the mix for the battle up front.

One big change this season has been the strict imposition of track limits and this session was no exception with a number of drivers being warned and several drivers having a lap time disallowed. Straight out of the pits the BMWs looked mighty and Rob Collard, Sam Tordoff and Andy Priaulx were right at the top of the leader board. Trading places with each other they were soon joined by Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden in the two Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Type Rs. There was no major threat in the early part of the session from Team BMR.

Rob Collard was penalised for exceeding the track limits

At the halfway point of the session, Gordon Shedden laid down the marker with a 1:24.464 to top the leader board as the front runners were put under pressure by the likes of Jack Goff in his MG 888 Racing MG 6GT and Rob Austin in the Exocet AlcoSense Audi A4. Surprisingly, there was no challenge to the top 6 from either Jason Plato or Tom Ingram - regular top 10 qualifiers.

As the second half of the session continued, the three BMWs really got their act together and as the session ended they looked to have the top of the grid locked out with Sam Tordoff fastest, Andy Priaulx 2nd and Rob Collard 3rd. The euphoria for the team was short lived as news filtered through that Rob Collard's fastest lap had been disallowed for exceeding track limits. This gave Gordon Shedden a reprieve as he inherited 3rd place with Collard relegated to 4th. Colin Turkington was a good 5th with Shedden's team-mate Matt Neal rounding out the top 6.

Gordon Shedden denies BMW a 1-2-3 lockout

WSR Team Principle Dick Bennetts was delighted with the result but also rather worried for tomorrow. "I'm more than happy with a 1-2-4 at this stage, but I know Rob will be disappointed with losing 3rd and I know he will be on it tomorrow morning. I think I might have to shut my eyes at the first corner." Honda were also happy with their result and have a great opportunity to gain some very valuable results tomorrow.

The grid for tomorrow's first race will see Sam Tordoff on pole with Andy Priaulx 2nd, Gordon Shedden 3rd, Rob Collard 4th, Colin Turkington 5th, Matt Neal 6th and Rob Austin with his best qualifying result of the season in 7th. The action starts tomorrow at 12:00 noon and we will bring you the best of the action.

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