Colin Turkington topped the times during a wet FP2 at Knockhill today (Saturday 23rd August). Turkington was again joined at the top of the timesheets by an eBay Motors teammate, but this time it was the BMW of Nick Forster. Turkington’s time (56.484s), some 4.614 seconds slower than that of his FP1 time, gives an indication of the difference in track condition, between the two sessions.
Turkington hit the front early on and remained there for the entire session as weather conditions played havoc with teams’ tyre choices. With 29 minutes remaining a red flag stoppage brought a temporary halt to the 40 minute session.
When the action resumed with 25 minutes remaining Sam Tordoff was the first to improve his time, jumping to 4th spot ahead of the Honda Yuasa pairing of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal. With 20 minutes of the session left almost every car entered the pits before a number rejoined the circuit on slick tyres. With 15 minutes remaining, Tordoff again improved his time to jump ahead of MG teammate Jason Plato to 3rd place on the timesheets.
The stop-start nature of the weather saw a further heavy downpour as numerous teams sat in pit lane contemplating their next move, and that, effectively ended the session. With the weather at incessant levels, a red flag brought the session to a premature end, as most of the drivers headed back to the pits abandoning the session with 8 minuets left on the clock.
Typically, as soon as the session ended, the sun began to shine; just in time for a special Jim Clark Tribute lap, which saw a number of iconic Jim Clark cars circulate the Knockhill track in commemoration of Jim’s 1964 BTCC title win.
With nothing to be learned from FP2, teams will now have it all to do in today’s BTCC qualifying session, set to take place at 15.05pm. With showers forecast for around that time; we could be looking at a wet qualification session, ahead of tomorrow’s BTCC triple-header.
Finishing order:
Turkington, Forster, Tordoff, Plato, SHedden, Neal, Austin, Jordan, Giovanardi, and Collard the top ten.
Tickets for today’s BTCC action can be purchased on the gate, whilst advanced tickets for Sunday’s raceday can be purchased online until midnight tonight.
Check out the official BTCC website for full reaction to this mornings FP2 result.
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