Jason Plato leads Colin Turkington in media day test
Team BMR’s Jason Plato pipped team-mate Colin Turkington by just 0.006 to head the times in the official media day test at Donington Park.
Last year’s two title protagonists led the running for much of the four-hour session, which saw little running in the final hour after a rain shower just before 4pm. Plato led the way with a 1.10.249, with Turkington just behind on a 1.10.255.
The pair of Volkswagen CCs were followed by an equally impressive pair of Mercedes A-Classes, with Aiden Moffat posting the third best time, ahead of Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan in fourth.
Both Mercedes were just half a tenth off the fastest time, with Triple Eight Racing’s Jack Goff and Andrew Jordan continuing the two-by-two theme in fifth and sixth, 0.131 and 0.376 behind respectively. Goff completed 65 laps, the most of any driver on the day.
Rob Austin Racing’s Hunter Abbott was a late improver in seventh, with Warren Scott, Martin Depper and Sam Tordoff completing the top 10.
The new Honda Racing Team Civic Type-Rs ended up 12th and 18th in the hands of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, with the Scotsman turning a wheel in his car for the first time.
The session saw mechanical issues befall a number of drivers.
Shedden caused one of two brief red flag periods when his Civic stopped out on track, followed shortly after by Tony Gilham Racing’s Kieran Gallagher, who ground to a halt at Redgate and was the only driver who ran who didn’t complete a timed lap.
Just one Welch Motorsport Proton Gen-2 ran for Andy Wilmot and Dan Welch, and its running was curtailed by engine troubles. Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was 24th after shaking down his newly-built Toyota Avensis, just ahead of Team BMR’s Aron Smith, who also completed just three laps after suffering a technical issue.
Neither Infiniti took to the track, as Richard Hawken’s car was missing parts, and Derek Palmer Jr’s car was not at the circuit.
The timesheet featured one interloper in the shape of Paul O’Neill, who ran in the West Surrey Racing BMW 125i in place of Andy Priaulx, who is still in France for European Le Mans Series testing. He ended up 21st after completing 22 laps.
Plato sounded a confident tone at the end of the day’s running, and said there was still improvements to come.
He said: “It’s not as driveable as I want it to be – I want it to be a bit more progressive. It’s a bit lively, and a bit too nervous. But we will get there. It’s good.
“The key is being able to put the weight in and out without losing the balance. I know if we put new tyres on and took the weight out, we could do a 1.09.3.
“The MGs will be fast, and I think Brands Hatch will be between us and them.”
