BTCC: Tordoff on Pole at Thruxton
The KwikFit British Touring Car Championship returned to the Thruxton circuit for it's second visit of the season and it was AMD Tuning's Sam Tordoff who took pole position for the first of Sunday's three races.
Tordoff took the top spot at the same circuit in qualifying earlier in the year and the Yorkshireman proved that he can be fast around the circuit on a regular basis and is turning out to be a bit of a Thruxton specialist. Double BTCC champion Jason Plato, fresh from his good outing at Snetterton, will line up second on the grid. Since the summer break, Plato has seemed to really get to grips with the setup of his PMR Astra and will be looking for another massive points haul this weekend.
Another man on form at the moment is the Honda Yuasa man, Dan Cammish. He will line up from third on the grid and hoping to boost his championship chances with some strong finishes come Sunday. He's been leading the Team Dynamics charge in the recent rounds and will be looking to get the team's first victory of the season this weekend.
Adam Morgan in the Ciceley Racing Mercedes has had a mixed year thus far, but will be pleased with his performance in qualifying at Thruxton. He will line up from fourth on the grid and will be looking to get involved with the front runners and give the team a much needed boost. Josh Cook will line up from fifth in the BTC Racing Honda Civic.
Team BMW's championship leading pair of Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan will line up from 11th and 13th respectively.
Speaking to BTCC.net, the top three had this to say:
Sam Tordoff said: “I’m really happy with that. After FP2 we were scratching our heads a little bit. The car was very different from where it was earlier in the season. We made some big setup changes and the car was good. It’s quickly becoming my favourite track and we’ve given ourselves such a good chance for tomorrow. I should have won here in May and would have were it not for power steering failure. I’ll be looking to put that right tomorrow.”
Jason Plato said: “I loved that session. On that last run I was up and just bit a bit too much off into Church. I nearly got through and tightened up in the car, slid and and scrubbed off time. I got to the Chicane at the same time as my best and it was a bit too much. I’m good friends with the car at the moment and I’ve got the car almost where I want it. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve got some real pace and I think we can fight for wins. It’s going to be a good day.”
Dan Cammish said: “That was a great session. I’d love to have my name in lights but I’m 0.070s off pole with 30kgs of success ballast on-board. If that weight’s not there we’re on pole. We made some changes after FP2 and I’m glad we stuck to our guns on that. The lap time was probably in there somewhere but you can easily overcook it here, especially at the last chicane. I was caught somewhere between not trying hard enough and overdoing it. I’m really happy with P3 and we can race from there.”
With some of the title protagonist's having to make do with positions outside the top ten and with the grid a little bit all over the place, we look set for another blockbuster weekend in the BTCC calendar.
2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Qualifying – Thruxton
1 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance 1m15.876s (111.78 mph) 2 Jason PLATO (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +0.014s 3 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.073s 4 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport +0.119s 5 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +0.235s 6 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance +0.306s 7 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +0.312s 8 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Team Toyota GB with Ginsters +0.364s 9 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Racing +0.399s 10 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +0.477s 11 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.484s 12 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.486s 13 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +0.505s 14 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +0.534s 15 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct+0.553s 16 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +0.570s 17 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.615s 18 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.647s 19 Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +0.679s 20 Jake HILL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +0.721s 21 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport +1.030s 22 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +1.114s 23 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +1.195s 24 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with Motorbase +1.383s 25 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +1.429s 26 Mark BLUNDELL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +1748s 27 Michael CREES (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct +1.961s 28 Rob SMITH (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +2.013s 29 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +2.082s 30 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +3.146s
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