BTCC: Donington Park

[Hazard]

Practice 2

1 Plato - Seat - 1:21.713
2 Muller - Vauxhall - 1:21.826
3 Neal - Honda - 1:22.179
4 Bentwood - Vauxhall - 1:22.457
5 Hines - Vauxhall - 1:22.459
6 Chilton - Honda - 1:22.465
7 Hodgetts - Alfa Romeo - 1:22.542
8 Huff - Seat - 1:22.650
9 Eaves - Honda - 1:22.658
10 Turkington - MG - 1:22.698
11 Collard - Vauxhall - 1:22.811
12 Reid - MG - 1:23.338
13 Pyper - Vauxhall - 1:23.504
14 Hughes - MG - 1:23.547
15 Kaye - Honda - 1:23.554
16 Hairuman - Proton - 1:26.544
17 Wheals - Honda - 1:27.266
18 Watson-Smith - Proton - 1:29.073

[Hazard]

Note: Masters race first practice is at 2pm...be great to see who's still on the pace!

[touringlegend]

I assume it was raining then - Muller broke the lap record in FP1.

[Hazard]

Yep...MST says it was wet.

Notice George & Thompson haven't set laps...hope Thompson hasn't smashed his car in again.

(BTCC.net now carries the story. Thompson put the car straight into the gravel...no cause for concern.)

[Hazard]

Well that's the Seat strategy screwed Plato's going to have to drop 9 places to get pole for race two

1 - Jason Plato - Seat Toledo Cupra - 1:20.843
2 - Matt Neal - Honda Civic Type-R - 1:21.197
3 - James Thompson - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 1:21.226
4 - Colin Turkington - MG ZS - 1:21.427
5 - Yvan Muller - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 1:21.584
6 - Robert Collard - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 1:21.657
7 - Anthony Reid - MG ZS - 1:21.696
8 - Michael Bentwood - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 1:21.772
9 - Luke Hines - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 1:21.823
10 - Tom Chilton - Honda Civic Type-R - 1:21.847
11 - Robert Huff - Seat Toledo Cupra - 1:22.005
12 - Stefan Hodgetts - Alfa Romeo 156 GTA - 1:22.196
13 - Jason Hughes - MG ZS - 1:22.814
14 - James Kaye - Honda Civic Type-R - 1:22.827
15 - Dan Eaves - Honda Civic Type-R - 1:22.894
16 - Gavin Pyper - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 1:24.797
17 - Farique Hairuman - Proton Impian - 1:25.023
18 - Jay Wheals - Honda Civic Type-R - 1:26.483
19 - Shaun Watson-Smith - Proton Impian - 2:21.907

[touringlegend]

Indeed, or he can just win 1st race, get a top 8 finish in Race 2 and win race 3 ??

[SPARK Msport]

Wheres John George??

[Hazard]

Engine blew in the morning. New engine should be fitted by the race tomorrow.

[SPARK Msport]

shame... but he'll be out for tomorrows race?

[SPARK Msport]

Quote from btcc.net: "Jay Wheals, experiencing a fully-blown BTCC car for the first time, was 19th fastest in Team Quest/Varta's European-spec Honda."

I thought it was an ETCC spec car?

[BootsOntheSide]

Great to have Pyper out there - that's in GA's Alfa as a one-off (not neccessarily a prelude to a full 2005) I assume?

Slight advantage to Thompson so far, but we all know how little that means. It's such a shame the race clashes with the Chinese GP, and as such won't get live coverage on ITV - I'm surprised the schedule didn't choose a non-clashing weekend.

[SPARK Msport]

Chinese GP starts at 6:00am tomorrow morning, so shouldn't effect the BTCC on ITV tomorrow

[Hazard]

Barely clashes - the Chinese Grand Prix is on at 7am. Just ITV's naff scheduling of a replay gets in the way.

[SPARK Msport]

(Just to save confusion...GP starts at 7am, the pre-race build up starts from 6am...) Just so you don't get me and Hazard confused...

[Hazard]

Blah! I don't care when they start talking about it...CART 5:30 or maybe 6:00am actual start, F1 7:00am start - BTCC race one at 11:00am...

Going to be a long day.

[touringcarnut]

Its going to be a good day of racing for sure!

[SPARK Msport]

I dont know whats going to be better...the BTCC racing tomorrow, F1 or the Masters race? Its going to be a good day for the TV tho, I can promise you that...

[rdjones]

Just got back from Donington and it has been wet/dry all day. Thommo ended up in the Gravel Trap at the bottom of the Carners during 2nd practice. John George has engine problems, a new engine is being fitted tonight.

It's going to be good tomorrow and if you are going remember your radio's as Radio Donington is on air on 1602 and they have a big screen too.

[coxmattycox]

where is the big screen placed?

[rdjones]

It's at above the Old Hairpin, just behind the Spark Plug high up on the backing.

[coxmattycox]

so their using the shorter track , not going round the melbourne hairpin etc?

[Hazard]

Cracking race one...Thompson highly agressive takes a good lead in the championship - but a lighter Muller will be starting ahead of him in race two.

Reid can no longer win the drivers title.
Plato has taken 3rd in the drivers championship.
Turkington has closed on Reid for the independants title.

Unofficial result (Good chance of some disqualifications )

1 - 11 - Jason Plato - Seat Sport UK - Seat Toledo Cupra
2 - 2 - James Thompson - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Coupé
3 - 8 - Colin Turkington - West Surrey Racing - MG ZS
4 - 14 - Michael Bentwood - Tech-Speed - Vauxhall Astra Coupé
5 - 6 - Anthony Reid - West Surrey Racing - MG ZS
6 - 57 - Luke Hines - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Coupé
7 - 1 - Yvan Muller - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Coupé
8 - 4 - Dan Eaves - Team Dynamics - Honda Civic Type-R
9 - 9 - Tom Chilton - Arena Motorsport - Honda Civic Type-R
10 - 12 - Robert Huff - Seat Sport UK - Seat Toledo Cupra
11 - 16 - James Kaye - Synchro Motorsport - Honda Civic Type-R
12 - 44 - Gavin Pyper - GA Motorsport - Vauxhall Astra Coupé
13 - 10 - Rob Collard - Collard Racing - Vauxhall Astra Coupé
14 - 20 - Shaun Watson-Smith - Team Petronas Syntium Proton - Proton Impian
15 - 41 - Jay Wheals - Team Varta - Honda Civic Type-R
16 - 77 - Jason Hughes - Kartworld Racing - MG ZS
17 - 17 - John George - Mardi-Gras Motorsport - Peugeot 406 Coupé
18 - 3 - Matt Neal - Team Dynamics - Honda Civic Type-R
19 - 15 - Fariqe Hairuman - Team Petronas Syntium Proton - Proton Impian
20 - 26 - Stefan Hodgetts - GA Motorsport - Alfa Romeo 156 GTA

[Adam43]

Wow, Plato wins a proper one. Good stuff.

Thommo has done well, how will Muller cope in race 2?

[touringlegend]

That's actually bad news if Plato, not sure if his set up was 100% wins a race by that margin...especially bad for next year i think!

Very firm, aggresive but fair rubbing from Thompson, had to have a wee smile to my self when Muller ended up on the grass. I feared for a moment he was actually going to collect Thommo and they'd both be in the gravel!

[Hazard]

Shame VBH didn't try and get an interview with Muller afterwards. I expect he'd have been quite displeased with events.

This championship is going to be decided by which one bounces off into the wall first really. James is looking in a good position points wise, but Muller at the moment has a good advantage now - beyond the fact he has to pass Huffy to win race two.