Turner Takes First BTCC Pole on a Perfect Day at Rockingham
21
April 2007
Having posted the fastest
time in both the morning’s free practice sessions, Darren Turner
completed a perfect day’s work at the Rockingham Motor Speedway
by setting the fastest time in qualifying to score his first ever pole
in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Darren was the only
driver to break the 1min 25sec barrier in all three sessions around
Rockingham’s new 1.94 mileInternational Super Sports Car Circuit.
Having set a 1:24.948 best in Free Practice 1 and a 1:24.790 in Free
Practice 2, Darren’s last flying lap in the closing seconds of
the 30 minute qualifying session saw him set a 1:24.908 – knocking
Fabrizio Giovanardi into 2nd place by +0.028s. The team believes the
increased wind blowing around the Corby track in the afternoon contributed
to the slightly slower qualifying times, compared to second free practice.
With
one SEAT Leon on the front row of the grid, Jason Plato made sure both
SEAT Sport UK cars are in a good position to score Manufacturer points
tomorrow by setting the 3rd fastest time – an incredible achievement,
as the Championship leader’s car is carrying 45kgs of success
ballast and is the heaviest of all 26 cars on the track.
Darren
said, “I’m delighted to get my first pole in the BTCC – but
I certainly didn’t mean to leave it so late in the session to
put in my quickest lap. We didn’t have the best combination of
tyres on my first attempt – we had new ones on the front, used
tyres on the rear and lots of oversteer – and on the second attempt,
with new tyres all ‘round, I was held up in traffic, so I only
had one flying lap at the end to try and get pole. My Race Engineer,
Nick Clipson, didn’t tell me the chequered flag had come out
and that I was on my final lap because he didn’t want to put
me under any pressure. It wasn’t a great lap anyway, so I’m
really pleased to have snatched pole away from Fabrizio Giovanardi
right at the end. Jason did a fantastic job to qualify in third with
so much weight on the car. I’m going to look at his data to see
how he did it!”
Jason Plato said, “With forty-five kilos of lead
weight in the car, I have to say that I’m pretty pleased to have
qualified third on the grid. We’re the heaviest car by far and
it really hurts around Rockingham. I’m a little disappointed
in myself because I reckon I could have gone faster, but I don’t
think I’d have been able to break the one minute twenty-five
barrier, so it wouldn’t have made any difference to my grid position.
I had three flying laps, two of which were okay, and then we sat in
the pits while the starter motor was replaced. Full credit to the team;
the temperatures in the engine bay are enormous and it takes a lot
of guts to dive in and change the starter motor during a qualifying
session. Tomorrow, we have to think of the bigger picture. I want to
extend my lead in the Championship and there are two Leons at the front
of the grid, so that is also important as we want to score as many
Manufacturers points as possible.”
SEAT
See series calendar for British
Touring Car Championship 2007
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