Dunlop MSA BTCC 2011

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What a spectacular qualifying session today! Knockhill's new high kerbs are giving us some amazing shots of 2-wheeling cars!

Very happy to see Wrathall and Austin 3rd and 4th on the grid. Hope it doesn't all go wrong in race 1 but as we all know, its almost certainly going to end in tears for somebody.

Congrats to Chilton for finally finding some speed in the newer Focus. One wonders though if its all in vain now more and more teams are turning to the seemingly very successful NGTC formula.

Speaking of which, Dan Welch's new NGTC Proton is slowly creeping up the grid too. 6th fastest in practice and 16th on the grid within 1 second of pole is very good work with a car that only had a shakedown in the previous race!

Bring on tomorrow! I really need to visit Knockhill one day for the BTCC as its a fantastic track and looks great to watch in real life due to the hills. I believe there are some new support races on tomorrow to fill in for the Renaults who have gone off to WSR at Silverstone?

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Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 52.999s
2. Matt Neal Honda 53.201s + 0.202s
3. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 53.222s + 0.223s
4. Rob Austin Rob Austin Audi 53.227s + 0.228s
5. Gordon Shedden Honda 53.298s + 0.299s
6. Jason Plato Chevrolet 53.338s + 0.339s
7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 53.377s + 0.378s
8. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 53.422s + 0.423s
9. Tom Onslow-Cole Arena Ford 53.472s + 0.473s
10. Rob Collard WSR BMW 53.580s + 0.581s
11. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 53.597s + 0.598s
12. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall 53.707s + 0.708s
13. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 53.735s + 0.736s
14. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 53.796s + 0.797s
15. Aron Smith Triple 8 Vauxhall 53.828s + 0.829s
16. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 53.867s + 0.868s
17. Nick Foster WSR BMW 53.886s + 0.887s
18. Martin Byford AmD Volkswagen 54.124s + 1.125s
19. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 54.251s + 1.252s
20. Andy Neate Arena Ford 54.334s + 1.335s
21. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT 54.415s + 1.416s
22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 54.777s + 1.778s
23. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 55.425s + 2.426s
24. Chris James ES Chevrolet 55.904s + 2.905s
 
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Ardius
I believe there are some new support races on tomorrow to fill in for the Renaults who have gone off to WSR at Silverstone?
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That was a couple of weeks ago (I was there). I don't know why the Renault races aren't going there, the BTCC races usually have a smaller grid at Knockhill, it may be because its so far away for teams with smaller budgets.

btw the Clio's didn't race at Silverstone they had the Dutch Clio Cup instead for some reason.
Also in the support races Marino Franchitti is guest driver in the Ginetta's.
 
I love the btcc not as good as the old days with the cavaliers, volvos, m3's, mondeos ,lagunas etc. but its getting slightly better again and along with f1 and euro rallycross its my favourite racing discipline. tomorrow is knockhill my favourite track in the calendar. :drool::drool::drool:

1 thing though we got quite a few decent tracks in the uk why dont we take advantage of them?
'tracks i think would suit btcc'
'mallory park'
'cadwell park'
'anglesey'(international gp circuit)
and wouldnt this be brilliant......... goodwood i know it wouldnt happen but i watched coverage of lastyears goodwood revival race (the race where adrian neweys e-type crashed) and the track looked in fabulous condition and the safety features such as the tyre walls and barriers looked pretty substantial and up to date. oh well we can only dream :)

come on the arenas and ngtc's for tomorrow (i like to see the ngtc boys do well).

oh yeah, that chris james moment reminds me of trail mountain final chicane :)
 
Can't wait for the race tomorrow, haven't missed a single race this season, they've all been extremely good fun to watch and tomorrow should be no exception 👍
 
Well I know that Cadwell Park has no where near the paddock space enough for BTCC. Not to mention that although its a great twisty track, its too narrow for Touring Cars. Its more of a bike track.

Mallory Park isn't used for similar reasons.

Angelsey on the other could possibly be used in future once the upgrades have been finished but currently, again, the paddock is not good enough just yet.
 
I'd like to see Anglesey becoming a part of things once it's finished - I've seen clips of bike racing on the new layout and it looks spectacular.

And you're right, Cadwell would be much too narrow. Looks only about 2/3 the width of even the narrowest of today's BTCC tracks. Knockhill is probably the tightest actually at the moment.
 
Boardman wins! But will he keep it I wonder... Bad day for Jackson and Plato as well. Congrats to Wrathall with two podiums as well.
 
MrMulsanne
Boardman wins! But will he keep it I wonder... Bad day for Jackson and Plato as well. Congrats to Wrathall with two podiums as well.
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Torn on Boardman's result. If he was as much faster than Plato as he looked he had no excuse to punt him off, and though he technically didn't do anything wrong when he bunched up the cars behind the safety car, the way he did it was incredibly stupid. That it's never happened behind the safety car before suggests it was largely his fault, rather than carelessness of other drivers.

Boardman has deserved wins before and missed out, but today he probably didn't deserve it.

Felt so bad for Jackson. The last race was pretty much his own fault but the end to a bad weekend. Felt sorry for Plato, because although he's been complaining a lot about the speed difference between the NA and turbo cars, his complaints are completely valid. The speed traps at Knockhill were showing the turbo cars to be 5mph faster at the top of the hill which is a joke.

Great to see Wrathall up there though, both for himself and for the NGTC rules.
 
Ardius
Well I know that Cadwell Park has no where near the paddock space enough for BTCC. Not to mention that although its a great twisty track, its too narrow for Touring Cars. Its more of a bike track.

Mallory Park isn't used for similar reasons.

Angelsey on the other could possibly be used in future once the upgrades have been finished but currently, again, the paddock is not good enough just yet.
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homeforsummer
I'd like to see Anglesey becoming a part of things once it's finished - I've seen clips of bike racing on the new layout and it looks spectacular.

And you're right, Cadwell would be much too narrow. Looks only about 2/3 the width of even the narrowest of today's BTCC tracks. Knockhill is probably the tightest actually at the moment.
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If the f1 boys can race around monaco and singapore at twice the speed of the touring cars boys i beg to differ. :sly:
but i take your point theres enough missing wing mirrors after the races as it is lol :)
 
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NGTC cars very quick this weekend. Think Plato is on pole for tomorrow, Wrathall and Austin also very quick. should be fun to watch!
 
It's kicking off.....

From BTCC.net:



Plato on controversial pole
Jason Plato has taken pole position for the first of tomorrow's three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire despite an angry clash with Matt Neal in qualifying.

In a rush to set a time in the session's closing stages following a late red flag stoppage, Plato’s Silverline Chevrolet and Neal’s Honda Racing Civic twice collided and there were harsh words exchanged between the pair in the pit lane afterwards with members of their teams having to intervene.

Both incidents between them, on and off the track, were immediately referred to the championship stewards for investigation. Consequently, both drivers have been fined £1000 and had three penalty points added to their competition licences. The stewards have also requested that the BTCC Administrator imposes a six-place grid penalty (applicable to both drivers), suspended for the balance of the 2011 season.

Prior to that red flag – caused by Liam Griffin crashing his Airwaves Ford Focus – Plato had already set a time, 1m23.745s, that would prove good enough for pole, his third this season and the 34th of his career. He will be joined on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s first race for the first time in his BTCC career by fellow Chevrolet driver, GoMobileUK.com with tech-speed’s Paul O’Neill.

Rob Austin, driving an NGTC-spec Audi A4 for his eponymous team, was also a best-ever third fastest ahead of Neal in fourth. James Nash (888 Racing with Collins Contractors Vauxhall Vectra) and Neal’s Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden, the championship leader, completed the top six.

Shedden holds a one-point lead over Neal going into tomorrow’s three races. Mat Jackson (Airwaves Ford Focus), who qualified ninth fastest, is third ahead of Plato in fourth.

Reigning Champion Plato, 35 points behind Shedden with a possible maximum of 52 available from Rockingham’s three races, commented: “I’m delighted as I really thought the turbocharged cars over a single flying lap would have the edge over us. We don’t know what the weather will bring tomorrow but I couldn’t be starting from a better position to get the job done.”

An elated O’Neill, from Widnes, added: “For everyone in our team which doesn’t have the big budgets of some of the others this is a simply magical result. I just decided to ignore all the information from the read-outs on the dash and then ask over the radio what the time was – it’s just awesome.”

Pershore racer Austin said: “Having qualified fourth at Knockhill and been fastest in the second practice session here this morning, this proves we’re not one-hit wonders. We’ve really got the car working very well now on all types of circuit and I don’t really care who’s fighting for the championship around me – I’m going for three big results tomorrow.”

Elsewhere Martin Byford, in only his third BTCC event, qualified the AmD Milltek Racing.com team's VW Golf an excellent tenth overall. And there were several other notable performances down the order. Nick Foster outqualified WSR BMW team-mate Robert Collard for the first time to grab a fine 11th on the grid with a last-gasp effort (Collard was still within a second of pole but back in 16th).

Andy Neate also out-paced both his more experienced Team Aon team-mates Tom Onslow-Cole and Tom Chilton as they took 12th, 13th and 14th – the three of them covered by just 36 thousandths of a second.

But there was perhaps some frustration for Special Tuning Racing duo Tom Boardman and Dave Newsham who were back in 17th and 20th respectively in their SEATs.

Michael Caine, making his BTCC debut this weekend in a third Airwaves Focus, was 19th, and Tony Gilham, in the returning Geoff Steel Racing squad's BMW, 23rd.

For Lea Wood, his Rockingham meeting is already over after a problem with his Central Group Racing’s Honda Integra during morning practice cruelly forced him to abandon the weekend.
 
Typical Plato and Neal stuff, excellent. Can't wait for the fireworks tomorrow when they are close on track. :lol:
Hopefully Austin, O'Neill, Wrathall, etc do not get caught up in that!

Rather than embed this, I'll simply post the link (due to the language in the video description and the rude gestures):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFklQNKt2Kw
 
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Very silly act by them... I'm impressed with the speed of the Audi and the Proton is slowly improving. Exactly should be a great race considering both Plato and Neal are somewhere at the front. But still :lol:
 
Ardius
Well I know that Cadwell Park has no where near the paddock space enough for BTCC. Not to mention that although its a great twisty track, its too narrow for Touring Cars. Its more of a bike track.

Mallory Park isn't used for similar reasons.

Angelsey on the other could possibly be used in future once the upgrades have been finished but currently, again, the paddock is not good enough just yet.
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Cadwell park is too small and tight for the BTCC's as you say.

They were in the process of expanding the runoff at Mallory for a BTCC race at Mallory, but they decided to stop as they think the track is good enough as it is and would suit staying at club level.

Anglesey? Could do.

Other tracks in Britain?
Castle Combe. Great track, Noise restriction.
Goodwood. Far too unsafe.
Pembrey. Pits and paddock too small for them.
 
Ardius
Typical Plato and Neal stuff, excellent. Can't wait for the fireworks tomorrow when they are close on track. :lol:
Hopefully Austin, O'Neill, Wrathall, etc do not get caught up in that!
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Glad to see you hold the viewpoint I do.

So many people complaining on the touring car sites or the Youtube video that one or the other driver should face much harsher punishments or that either is out of order.

Personally I love it. BTCC is our own little slice of the on track/off track rivalries they have in NASCAR. In a world of one-dimensional racing drivers who consistently toe the sponsors' line we need more tooth and nail rivalries like Plato/Neal, not fewer. As long as they aren't literally putting each other in danger on the race track then who cares what else they do?

A lot of people let a fanboy-like allegiance to a particular driver get in the way of enjoying the sport as a whole. I'm personally quite happy as long as the sport has cars up on two wheels, BMWs getting the odd victory in a FWD series, a driver rivalry, and plenty of overtaking. Since we've had three out of those four this season, I'm pretty happy :D

Just need a victory from Collard in the BMW to complete the set...
 
I gave up trying to be a fan of either driver long ago - they are just as bad as each other and both of them are extremely hypocritical. But they are both extemely fast and excellent drivers.

BTCC without them and their crazy rivalry would be all the poorer. Its just a shame we don't have Giovanardi, Muller, Turkington or someone else to mix it up.

By the way, would a win for Rob Austin's Audi be enough for you? It is RWD ;).
 
I'm looking forward to watching how the NGTC cars go today. Shame Hughes has not really gone anywhere forward (correct me if I am wrong) in the Speedworks Toyota.
 
Ardius
I gave up trying to be a fan of either driver long ago - they are just as bad as each other and both of them are extremely hypocritical. But they are both extemely fast and excellent drivers.

BTCC without them and their crazy rivalry would be all the poorer. Its just a shame we don't have Giovanardi, Muller, Turkington or someone else to mix it up.
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And Thompson, don't forget him! Even Johnny Herbert, he was entertaining at Rockingham a few years back...

Know what you mean though. I've actually nothing against either driver really. They can be a bit dirty sometimes and both mouth off enough, but I quite like that so I don't dislike them for it. I'd probably lean towards Plato if I'm honest.

As you say, it's good for the sport. BTCC is still my favourite motorsport and drivers like Plato and Neal are responsible for that.

By the way, would a win for Rob Austin's Audi be enough for you? It is RWD ;).
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I keep on forgetting Austin. At the moment his NGTC is probably one of the quicker ones out there. Was good at Knockhill and it's already looking good at Rockingham too.

I just expect Collard is the most likely RWD winner. Well proven car and most experienced driver!
 
InvincibleM5
Not sure if you guys have watch the interviews but:

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Well, just saw Plato's comment about Neal's "violent assault".... well, considering that Plato instigated the whole thing in the first place he should have expected it!

Although I will say that it does give the whole meet a bit more of a spice to it although it could be slightly better handled sometimes...
 
I'd not heard of any attacks myself but I wouldn't put it past Plato unfortunately. He made some comment about Boardman being a "talentless pikey" on Twitter after Boardman took him off at Knockhill and then followed it up with more comments when other people chipped in.

Was kind of funny really and as I've said above, you need strong personalities and outspoken people in the BTCC, but there's always a line to draw before the insults start turning to someone's family or whatever, if that really was the case.

MatskiMonk
Pole for race 3 :D
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:D I know, was chuffed about that. Two RWDs on the front row. Could be pretty close in race 3.
 
Submerged
Well, just saw Plato's comment about Neal's "violent assault".... well, considering that Plato instigated the whole thing in the first place he should have expected it!

Although I will say that it does give the whole meet a bit more of a spice to it although it could be slightly better handled sometimes...
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Yeah I couldn't believe Plato said that, pushing the truth just a bit. He still had his helmet on anyway.

Does totally add spice though. More like a Nascar race. You wouldn't see an F1 driver threaten to rip someone's face off. Their PR people would go mad.
 

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