VXR in command in second practise

Vauxhall upped the ante at Thruxton as drivers Tom Chilton, Alain Menu and Fabrizio Giovanardi finished first, second and fourth in the second practice. Chilton set the pace with a best lap time of 1m18.213s – the fastest of the day so far. Menu, making a one-off appearance for Vauxhall’s VX Racing team, was next up on 1m18.410s.

Only SEAT’s Darren Turner was able to prevent a VXR 1-2-3 as he set the third fastest time ahead of Giovanardi, his team-mate Jason Plato’s title rival. Plato, the championship leader, finished eighth overall having been as high as fifth with ten minutes to go. Significantly, he and Turner appeared to concentrate on long race-like runs towards the end of the session.

Jumping past Plato in the final ten minutes to go fifth, sixth and seventh were session one pace-setter Matt Neal (Team Halfords Honda Civic) and both Team RAC BMW drivers Colin Turkington and Tom Onslow-Cole.

Behind, Eoin Murray set an excellent 11th fastest time in his Quest Racing Alfa Romeo, while BTCC returnee Paul O’Neill – just as in session one – was again a competitive 14th. Of note was the constant changing order in the mid-field.

Meanwhile, missing from the session with mechanical gremlins were the Motorbase Performance SEAT of Matt Allison and Rick Kerry’s diesel-powered Team AFM BMW 120D. The start of the session had been delayed following a multiple pile-up during the preceding Renault Clio Cup qualifying session which left the chicane barriers damaged and oil on the track.

Now, the BTCC’s teams and drivers are now preparing for this afternoon’s all-important half-hour qualifying session that begins at 3.10pm.