Plato takes pole as Turkington struggles

Jason Plato kept his slim championship hopes alive by taking pole position for race one of the BTCC tomorrow at the Rockingham circuit. The Chevrolet driver will start ahead of Jonathan Adam, who qualified an impressive second in the BMW.

Championship leader Colin Turkington, carrying full weight ballast of 45kg for his championship position, could only qualify 14th.

Team mate Stephen Jelley sat on pole for much of the session, but late in the session improvements from both the Racing Silverline drivers, and then a last minute front row stealing lap from rival BMW driver Jonathan Adam saw Jelley slip to fourth.

Team Dynamics driver Johnny Herbert qualified a credible ninth on his second outing for the team. Gordon Shedden on his return with the new Club SEAT team can also be proud of having outqualified all the manufacturer backed Vauxhall drivers with sixth.

Fabrizio Giovanardi was the top VX Racing driver in seventh. Matt Neal’s earlier times were deleted after he failed to start after a weigh bridge check – but put in a later time which saw him secure 15th on the grid – still within a second of the pole time.

Jonathan Adam is in a good position to challenge for his first official BTCC victory, after having to give an earlier trophy to Plato after it was deemed he’d pushed him out of the way too agressively at the season opener at Brands Hatch . The rear wheel drive BMW is known for it’s fast starts, and so will pose a serious threat to Plato as they run towards the first corner.