Plato to start on pole at Donington Park

Jason Plato has claimed the pole position for tomorrow’s first BTCC race at Donington Park, setting a fastest time of 1:10.604.

Light rain began to fall ten minutes into qualifying which made it difficult for drivers to improve on their early times until the dying minutes of the session. Speedworks Motorsport’s Adam Morgan was responsible for the one red flag during qualifying after going off track at Redgate.

Jason Plato was the first into the 1.10s early in the session. The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver was followed into the 1.10s by Gordon Shedden who set a time of 1:10.989. The Honda Yuasa Racing driver improved on his time to run a 1:10.658, but this was not enough to beat Plato.

Shedden’s team mate Matt Neal, who finished third fastest, was the only other runner who finished in the 1.10s. He was followed to the line by fellow NGTC Honda Civic runner Andrew Jordan who will line up fourth on the grid. Rob Collard, one of the earliest leaders of the session finished fifth fastest ahead of Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson.

Plato’s team mate Andy Neate will line up last on the grid after not setting a time in the session.

The first race is due to take place at 11:37am on Sunday UK time.