BTCC Testing News

Paul Radisich set the fastest time in today's (Friday) official TOCA 
Test at Silverstone in preparation for this Sunday's rounds 7 & 8 of 
the Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship.

The Kiwi star, who's yet to win a BTCC race in 1995, ended 6 hours 
of testing just 17/1000ths of a second faster than Rickard Rydell 
in leading Volvo 850 and signals a return to form for the Ford team. 
Underlining the Mondeo's improvement, Kelvin Burt set the third 
fastest time.

Current series leader, Alain Menu, in the Williams prepared Renault 
Laguna, finished the day in 7th spot.

It was a poor day for a couple of the former Grand Prix drivers 
now contesting Britain's premier championship. Derek Warwick could 
manage no better than 18th in his Alfa Romeo; David Brabham's day 
was cut short by an accident. He was uninjured but his BMW was badly 
damaged.

With the first 18 cars all lapping within one second of pace setter 
Radisich the scene is all set for two more titanic BTCC battles on 
Sunday. As the cars are so evenly matched, tomorrow's two official 
qualifying sessions will prove to be make or break for many of the 
championship contenders.

Official Times
1.	Radisich (NZ)	Ford		1m00.859s
2.	Rydell (S)	Volvo		1m00.886s
3.	Burt (GB)	Ford		1m01.038s
4.	Watts (GB)	Peugeot		1m01.212s
5.	Cleland (GB)	Vauxhall	1m01.228s
6.	Thompson (GB)	Vauxhall	1m01.265s
7.	Menu (CH)	Renault		1m01.320s
8.	Hoy (GB)	Renault		1m01.481s
9.	Harrison (GB)	Peugeot		1m01.489s
10.	Harvey (GB)	Volvo		1m01.575s
11.	Sugden (GB)	Toyota		1m01.595s
12.	Kaye (GB)	Honda		1m01.614s

-- 
Stephen M Baines

 "[The Autosport sticker] started to peel off in the middle of Eau Rouge
 and it distracted me. In fact it was the first thing to hit the barrier"
    Tiff Needell - Jaguar XJR-15 Challenge - Interview with Autosport

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