Andrew Jordan set the fastest time in an incident-filled second free practice session at Brands Hatch ahead of the MG KX Momentum Racing pair of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff.
After the first ten minutes of the session it was Plato leading the way, but a big crash for Aron Smith at Druids just after the Irishman had posted the second fastest time brought the session to a premature halt. Smith was following the Toyota Avensis cars of Ollie Jackson and Frank Wrathall and had to take avoiding action at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend, losing control of the Airwaves Racing Ford Focus which hit the barrier and ended up on its side. Thankfully, despite the heavy impact, Smith walked away from the accident unhurt.
Following a lengthy red flag period the session resumed and the times tumbled, with Tom Onslow-Cole and Colin Turkington jumping up the order shortly after the restart. Neither quite managed to match the time set by Plato earlier in the session, however with five minutes remaining the current championship leader Jordan threw down the gauntlet with an impressive time of 1:31.988s.
The MG KX Momentum Racing cars then went out in tandem to try and topple the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic of Jordan, with Plato and Tordoff both improving their times. Plato was the only driver other than Jordan to drop into the 1:31s, but just missed out on the top spot by an incredible 0.005s, with Tordoff 0.071s back from Jordan’s time.
A late surge from reigning BTCC champion Gordon Shedden put his Honda Yuasa Racing Civic fourth in the time sheets ahead of the eBay Motors car of Turkington. Frank Wrathall, who won the final race of the year on the Brands Hatch GP circuit in 2012, rounded out the top six and was the highest-placed Toyota Avensis. Fellow Avensis driver Adam Morgan was eighth just behind the Airwaves Racing Focus of Tom Onslow-Cole, while the Speedworks Motorsport Toyotas were unable to repeat their earlier performance in the drier conditions of FP2, with Dave Newsham and Ollie Jackson 12th and 18th respectively.
Despite taking no further part in the session, Smith’s earlier time secured ninth position at the chequered flag, with eBay Motor’s Rob Collard rounding out the top ten in his BMW 125i M Sport.
2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Brands Hatch GP – Free Practice 2
1. Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing): 1:31.988
2. Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.005
3. Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.071
4. Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.162
5. Colin Turkington (eBay Motors): +0.298
6. Frank Wrathall (Dynojet): +0.512
7. Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing):+0.646
8. Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing): +0.854
9. Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing): +0.868
10. Robert Collard (eBay Motors): +1.012
11. Rob Austin (WIX Racing): +1.069
12. Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport): +1.236
13. Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing): +1.246
14. Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart): +1.257
15. Jake Hill (Exocet Racing): +1.260
16. Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing): +1.295
17. Nick Foster (eBay Motors): +1.340
18. Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport): +1.809
19. Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing): +2.093
20. Dan Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp): +2.472
21. Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing): +2.690
22. Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase): +3.255
23. Tom Barley (RCIB Insurance Racing): +3.787
24. Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing): +4.388
25. Shaun Hollamby (AmDTunung.com): No time set
