Matt Gough
Aug 11, 20182 min
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship roared back into action today as the 31 cars headed out onto the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire for a key qualifying session.
Amazingly, the top 28 cars come the end of the session were covered by less than a second, whilst a number of championship challengers failed to take advantage and didn't even make the top ten. The depth of talent in the BTCC truly showed today as it was a real shake up of the order.
The Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes of Adam Morgan grabbed pole position for the first of tomorrows three races, by posting a time of 1:22:835. Just over a tenth behind the Mercedes, was the Motorbase Ford Focus of Sam Tordoff who is looking to get back on the title hunt and keep in touch with the leaders.
Dan Cammish will line up third, just in front of a very impressive Mike Bushell who lines up in P4 for the first of tomorrow's races.
Dan Lloyd and Chris Smiley completed an all BTC Norlin third row with Tom Chilton, Brett Smith, Jason Plato and Ashley Sutton completing the top ten order.
In terms of the title protagonists, Colin Turkington and Tom Ingram line up 12th and 13th respectively, with Matt Neal all the way down in 29th. Newcomers to the championship, Ricky Collard, Glynn Geddie and Ollie Pidgley will also line up in 26th,30th and 31st respectively.
It looks like its a real shake up of the order and we will be in for some fantastic racing as the title battle intensifies.
FULL ORDER:
2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Qualifying – Rockingham
1 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport 1m22.835s (84.31 mph)
2 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team GardX Racing with Motorbase +0.102s
3 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.251s
4 Mike BUSHELL (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +0.328s
5 Dan LLOYD (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +0.380s
6 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +0.386s
7 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +0.417s
8 Brett SMITH (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +0.428s
9 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.439s
10 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.448s
11 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +0.484s
12 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.486s
13 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +0.511s
14 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +0.512s
15 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.515s
16 Sam SMELT (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +0.521s
17 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +0.542s
18 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars +0.640s
19 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +0.656s
20 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +0.697s
21 Josh COOK (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +0.734s
22 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +0.758s
23 Jack GOFF (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +0.779s
24 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing +0.794s
25 James COLE (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +0.836s
26 Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +0.949s
27 Michael CAINE (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars +0.954s
28 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +0.988s
29 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.035s
30 Glynn GEDDIE (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +1.784s
31 Ollie PIDGLEY (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +1.958s