Jason Plato leads MG 1-2 in first Oulton Park practice
Jason Plato topped the first practice at Oulton Park, after beating his qualifying lap record from 2012 with his very first lap of the weekend.
In a session disrupted by two red flags, Plato’s opening time of 1.26.407 remained unchallenged, until he beat it himself with two minutes to go, dropping to a 1.26.227.
Team-mate Sam Tordoff made it a Triple Eight MG one-two, 0.380 behind Plato, ahead of the two Honda Civics of Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden and Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan.
Colin Turkington was an encouraging fifth in his West Surrey Racing BMW, ahead of Shedden’s team-mate Neal and the Toyota Avenisis machines of Speedworks Motorsport’s Dave Newsham and Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan.
Rob Austin’s Audi A4 and Frank Wrathall’s Toyota Avensis completed the top 10.
The first of the red flags came out after 17 minutes of the session, caused by Jeff Smith hitting the barriers in his Eurotech Racing Honda Civic. The second came with nine minutes to go, after an off for Tony Gilham Racing’s James Cole.
Lea Wood was the fastest Jack Sears Trophy runner in his JWT Performance Vauxhall Vectra, in 16th overall, while newcomer Aaron Mason, in for James Kaye in the AmD Tuning Volkswagen Golf, was 23rd fastest, 4.864s off the pace.
Warren Scott’s Seat Leon didn’t appear due to a fuel issue, while Joe Girling has been forced to sit out the weekend in his Chevrolet Cruze on medical advice.
The second free practice session takes place at 12:45 BST.
