Jason Plato topped Saturday’s second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship free practice session at Rockingham, almost half a second clear of his nearest rival.
The Triple Eight man recovered from a quiet start to the second 40-minute session of the day, but ensured that the MG squad locked out the day’s practice sessions after team-mate Sam Tordoff topped the morning’s first encounter.
Plato emerged in the second half of the session to put together an ultimate best of 1m22.803s, which was unbeaten as he ended free practice 0.409s clear of his closest competitor.
The nearest rival turned out to be Andrew Jordan, who usurped the other MG of Tordoff of second spot to deny a Triple Eight one-two.
The Pirtek Racing driver jumped from fourth to second in the closing minutes, fourth going the way of Tom Ingram who continued to impress for Speedworks Racing on the eve of their 100th race this Sunday.
BMR Racing‘s Aron Smith rounded out the top five, while team-mate Jack Goff was unlucky enough to lose a wheel which left him returning to the pits on a recovery vehicle, although he quickly returned to the track without further drama.
Tordoff’s session ended prematurely however after the red flag interruption to return Goff’s Volkswagen, when he lost control of his MG at Gracelands and edged against the tyre wall.
Championship leader Colin Turkington ended sixth for West Surrey Racing, Marc Hynes next up as he confirmed MG’s pace around the Corby circuit.
Gordon Shedden was eighth for Honda, the top 10 rounded out by Adam Morgan (Mercedes) and Mat Jackson (Ford).
Qualifying will get underway at 15:40 later this afternoon, and you can follow the action this weekend with The Checkered Flag and via @tcfBTCC.
