Jordan Fastest heading into Brands Qualifying
Submitted on October 20th 2012 13:26 by Michael Passingham.
Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan has set the fastest time in Saturday’s second Free Practice session at Brands Hatch. Driving the NGTC-spec Honda Civic, the Sutton Coldfield racer set his fastest time right at the end of an interrupted and unpredictable session. Tom Onslow-Cole had held the fastest time for at least half of the session, but finished the session 2nd, 0.652s behind Jordan’s 1:31.765. Rob Collard got his eBay BMW into third and Jason Plato, who is second in the championship, finished the session fourth. The other championship contenders Neal and Shedden managed 7th and 8th respectively.
The session got under way slightly behind schedule at 12:10, and it was immediately clear that the times in the second session would be much faster than those in the first, as the track was much drier than it had been in the comparatively damp morning session.
There was a shock fifteen minutes into the session, when Dan Welch’s Proton collided with Tony Gilham’s new Vauxhall Insignia on the Brabham straight. Neither driver could agree whose fault it was, but Gilham had to limp round to the pits and retire from the session with significant damage after also clipping the pit wall.
Just ten minutes later, the red flags were flying as a result of Tony Hughes losing the back end of his Toyota at the exit of Paddock Hill Bend. The car was undamaged but stranded, which left the marshals no choice but to stop the session.
The practice session was stopped for at least 7 minutes before it was allowed to restart, and the clock had been counting down throughout the down-time. With just 8 minutes to go, so came a flurry of fast times from a number of drivers, the most notable of which was Jeff Smith’s; a 1:23.879 put him in second position behind his team mate, briefly creating a Pirtek Racing/Eurotech 1-2. In the end, his time was good enough for 5th.
The final top ten is as follows: Jordan, Onslow-Cole, Collard, Plato, Jeff Smith, Foster, Neal, Shedden, Mat Jackson and Aron Smith.
The full time sheet can be found here.
Qualifying begins at 1450 – You can follow the events of the session on twitter @BTCCCrazyLive
Photo Credit: Pete Mainey
Michael Passingham
