Brands Hatch Qualifying

[Craig]

James Thompson was in an untypically dejected mood after qualifying second to his Vauxhall team-mate and title rival Yvan Muller for the first of tomorrow’s (Monday) two Green Flag MSA British Touring Car rounds at Brands Hatch.
Defending champion Thompson appeared to have Muller beaten but the Frenchman put in a late burst of speed to take pole position by just one thousandth of a second.


MG’s Warren Hughes and Vauxhall’s Paul O’Neill were also just fractions behind, signalling a very close pair of races.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Thompson. “We ran the car to race trim in the two practice sessions earlier so qualifying was a bit of a gamble on set-up.”


Much to Thompson’s dismay, Muller earned an extra point for pole to increase the gap between them at the top of the table to 14.

But said Muller, who has retired from two of the last four races: “I think I already lost enough points at Croft and Snetterton.”


Muller added: “I knew I only had one chance left in qualifying, so had to give it everything.”

Hughes and team-mate Colin Turkington, who qualified fifth, look set to be thorns in the sides of all three Vauxhall drivers. Hughes, who crashed out at the last bend while challenging for victory here in May said: “I’m desperate to win a race – that’s the bottom line for me.”


Honda’s Matt Neal, whose fourth win of the season at Snetterton two weeks ago took him past Thompson in the victory stakes, will start sixth on the grid. Neal is third in the championship and will be hoping the Vauxhall drivers hit trouble for it is his only way back into the title race.

If not, then Vauxhall will be effectively guaranteed the drivers’ crown, plus the BTCC’s teams and manufacturers’ titles which they can win this weekend.


In the Hilton Independents Trophy and Production class, points leaders Rob Collard and Luke Hines both led their rivals in qualifying.

Collard, in his Collard-Racing Vauxhall Astra Coupe, qualified ninth fastest overall, but was only 6/1000ths of a second clear of one of his title rivals, Carl Breeze, 10th in GA Motorsports’ Astra Coupe. Collard's nearest challenger, James Kaye, was back in 15th in Synchro’s Honda Civic Type-R.

Hines, who can effectively sew up the Production class title this weekend, was 19th overall in Barwell Motorsport’s Civic Type-R, but only fractionally ahead of Mark Fullalove, in Techspeed’s Peugeot 306, and Michael Bentwood, in Edenbridge Racing’s BMW 320i. Hines’ Barwell team can clinch the Production class’s teams’ title at Brands.

[Rocktracer]

Race 1
1 6 HUGHES 35 29:58.504 85.90 49.854 51.234
2 2 MULLER 35 + 2.713 85.77 49.979 52.299
3 5 TURKINGTON 35 + 3.787 85.72 49.936 51.204
4 3 NEAL 35 + 8.526 85.50 50.069 51.129
5 1 THOMPSON 35 + 8.736 85.49 49.949 51.188
6 8 O'NEILL 35 + 9.031 85.47 49.978 50.955
7 4 REID 35 + 12.460 85.31 50.190 51.202
8 7 CHILTON 35 + 18.053 85.05 50.201 50.851
9 15 LESLIE 35 + 19.958 84.96 50.353 51.469
10 10 BREEZE 35 + 26.062 84.67 50.401 52.015