Neal on top in second session

Date published : 04 Jun 2011 - 12:55:13

Honda's Matt Neal topped the second British Touring Car free practice session at Oulton Park this afternoon, but normally aspirated cars filled the next three places.Reigning champion Jason Plato set the pace for much of the session before a late charge from Neal and Plato's works Chevrolet team-mate Alex MacDowall demoted him to third.Neal's effort came despite steering and turbo boost control issues early on. He nevertheless expects to struggle in qualifying this afternoon thanks to 45kg of success ballast."The car feels really good, but it's difficult to know because I think other people will go quicker," he said. "If I can get on the second row in qualifying I'll be chuffed."Behind the top three, Paul O'Neill showed improved pace to take fourth in Tech-Speed's non-turbo Chevrolet Cruze.Andrew Jordan maintained his competitive form with fifth in Eurotech/Pirtek Racing's Vauxhall Vectra, while Gordon Shedden's Honda Civic was sixth. He still has the quickest time of the weekend so far, however, thanks to his 1m27.558s lap in first practice.Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Matt Neal Honda 1m27.917s 2. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m28.115s + 0.198s 3. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m28.252s + 0.335s 4. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m28.284s + 0.367s 5. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 1m28.454s + 0.537s 6. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m28.467s + 0.550s 7. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m28.531s + 0.614s 8. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m28.546s + 0.629s 9. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m28.609s + 0.692s10. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 1m28.714s + 0.797s11. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m28.802s + 0.885s12. Andy Neate Arena Ford 1m28.864s + 0.947s13. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 1m29.041s + 1.124s14. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m29.322s + 1.405s15. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT 1m29.334s + 1.417s16. Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall 1m29.355s + 1.438s17. Tom Onslow-Cole AmD Volkswagen 1m29.688s + 1.771s18. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 1m29.767s + 1.850s19. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 1m29.961s + 2.044s20. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m30.548s + 2.631s21. Chris James ES Chevrolet 1m31.343s + 3.426s22. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota 1m32.030s + 4.113s23. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota24. Lea Wood Central Honda