Jason Plato on top in second practice at Croft

Jason Plato was fastest in the final practice session at the Croft circuit in the Triple Eight MG, just ahead of championship rival Gordon Shedden’s Honda and the BMW of Rob Collard.

The top position changed hands several times in the last 10 minutes, after Andrew Jordan had held the top spot for the majority of the first half-an-hour of the session.

Matt Neal went quickest of all on only his first timed run with just over ten minutes left. Though Neal was late to set a time, he’d set several laps already but had avoided setting a timed lap by only completing out and in-laps in the Honda Racing Team Civic.

Rob Collard improved in the final few minutes to go fastest of all in his West Surrey Racing BMW 320si, but was immediately dropped to second as Gordon Shedden improved with a time of 1:25.302 in the other works Honda. Jason Plato then went faster than the both of them, and was the only driver under the 1:25s with a time of 1:24.817, just fractionally faster than Andrew Jordan had been in the morning session.

Nick Foster joined the session late in the #18 West Surrey Racing BMW, but was able to set a time which put him 13th on the time sheets.

Paul O’Neill, who stopped out on track in the first session, saw the problem continue in this session and the Widnes-driver was the only driver unable to set a time in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis.

Rob Collard ended up as the fastest independent driver in third, whilst the two Toyotas of Adam Morgan and Frank Wrathall again looked strong, both in the top ten.

Next up is qualifying at 15:05 BST.