BTCC // TEAM AON FORD DOMINATES SILVERSTONE QUALIFYING

The Team Aon Ford Focus's of Tom Onslow-Cole and Tom Chilton set a stunning pace in qualifying at Silverstone and will line up on the front row of the grid for the first race of tomorrow’s 7th round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Onslow-Cole edged out his team-mate to take his fourth career pole with a best of 59.659 recorded after just 7 minutes of the half hour session. The sister LPG powered car of Tom Chilton was the only other runner to break the minute barrier around Silverstone's short "National Circuit", finishing the session just over two tenths of a second behind Onslow-Cole. Both Focus's were inside the previous Silverstone BTCC qualifying record of Matt Jackson (1m 00.259), set last season... [read more]

The RML Chevrolet's of championship leader Jason Plato and Cumbrian youngster Alex MacDowall will occupy the second row of the grid with 19yr old MacDowall in third and the heavily laden (with 45kg success ballast) Cruze of Plato in fourth. Ominously for the normally aspirated Chevrolet's however was the fact that the AON Turbo Ford's had earlier shown consistently quicker race pace around the 1.64mile circuit which is believed to suit the extra torque generated by the LPG Cars.

Team Honda driver Matt Neal finished the session 5th, keeping the two time former champion in contention for another title with the Civic starting race one right behind the Chevrolet of Plato. The session wasn't so kind however for Neal's Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden with the Scotsman only just making it into the top ten.

Team Airwaves BMW driver Matt Jackson fell foul of the pit lane ride height check thus losing his times up to that point, dropping the 2008 BTCC runner-up down the field from 9th to 13th position.

Series returnee Phil Glew in the "Your Racing Car" Turbo Seat was forced to miss the half hour session after his Leon developed a driveshaft problem.

Also taking no part in afternoon qualifying was the Forster Motorsport BMW 320si of Martin Depper following an off at "Copse" during the second free practice session.

Raceday action at Silverstone gets underway at 9.30am on Sunday (22nd) with the three BTCC races taking place at 11.45,14.35 and 17.20.

Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship Round 7

Silverstone, Qualifying Results:

1. Tom Onslow-Cole Team Aon Ford Focus ST 59.659secs
2. Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus ST 59.881secs
3. Alex MacDowall Silverline Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1min 00.354secs
4. Jason Plato Silverline Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1min 00.491secs
5. Matt Neal Team Honda Honda Civic 1min 00.528secs
6. Andrew Jordan Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra 1min 00.636secs
7. Paul O'Neill sunshine.co.uk Honda Integra 1min 00.661secs
8. Robert Collard West Surrey Racing BMW 320si 1min 00.662secs
9. James Nash Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra 1min 00.863secs
10. Gordon Shedden Team Honda Honda Civic 1min 00.922secs
11. Steven Kane Airwaves BMW BMW 320si 1min 01.010secs
12. Tom Boardman Special Tuning (UK) SEAT Leon 1min 01.038secs
13. Mat Jackson Airwaves BMW BMW 320si 1min 01.191secs
14. Dave Pinkney Pinkney Motorsport Vauxhall Vectra 1min 01.221secs
15. John George sunshine.co.uk Honda Integra 1min 01.352secs
16. Andy Neate West Surrey Racing BMW 320si 1min 01.590secs
17. Lea Wood Central Group Racing Honda Integra 1min 02.056secs
18. Arthur Forster Forster Motorsport BMW 320si 1min 02.220secs
19. Shaun Hollamby AmD Milltek Racing Volkswagen Golf 1min 02.369secs
20. Phil Glew Special Tuning (UK)/YourRacingCar SEAT Leon No time
21. Martin Depper Forster Motorsport BMW 320si No time
22. Martin Johnson Boulevard Team Racing Vauxhall Astra No time

Editorial: Neil Tozer
Photo: BTCC