Jelley sets early pace at Donington

Team RAC’s Stephen Jelley was fastest in this morning’s first free practice session. The Leicestershire driver, hoping for a strong performance at his local circuit, set a time of 1:13.634 to go 0.130 seconds faster than Jason Plato. Dry conditions meant that the top 11 cars lapped within 1 second of each other, with Rob Collard setting the third fastest time in the session.

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Fabrizio Giovanardi was fourth fastest, ahead of James Thompson and Jonathan Adam. In all it was a good session for the BMW drivers, with all four cats inside the top seven positions as Colin Turkington set the seventh fastest time.

Harry Vaulkhard put in an impressive lap to set the eighth fastest time and the second-best of the Chevrolet Lacetti’s. Matt Neal, carrying maximum success ballast, could only manage the ninth fastest time whilst his team-mate Andrew Jordan was two places further back in 11th.

Tom Chilton set the 12th fastest time, his best position in any session so far this year. The team will be hoping that the recent upgrades and set-up changes to the car will pay off this weekend as they search for a much needed progression up the grid.

Paul O’Neill completed only 7 laps after spinning off into the gravel trap at the old hairpin. Despite this he was 15th fastest and the best of the Honda Integra drivers.

After the session, Jelley told btcc.net: “So far so good. It’s early days, but we know the BMW is strong around here provided conditions are either fully dry or wet. There’s more to come if it stays drt, but of course you never know what the others are doing at this early stage of the weekend.”