Vauxhalls dominate second TOCA test.

The Vauxhall Astra Coupe of Jason Plato topped the timesheets at the second official TOCA test of the season, at Oulton Park today.

The Englishman's team-mate, Yvan Muller, was close behind him in second spot, with the two Team Egg Sport Astras of James Thompson and Phil Bennett providing a clean sweep for the Luton marque in third and fourth position.

A total of 19 out of the 36 cars registered to compete in the 2001 www.theaa.com MSA British Touring Car Championship tested at Oulton on a day which delivered changeable weather conditions. Rain resulted in predictably slower test times throughout the morning session, although the final positions remained largely the same during both halves of the test.

"I didn't think we would get much done today given this morning's weather but, in the end,we got some good meaningful running in," commented Plato, "We tried a few new settings, which I'm happy with, and, overall, it was a very good day. Roll on Brands Hatch!"

Vauxhall team manager - and former F1 and BTCC racer - Derek Warwick was clearly satisfied with the day's work, after watching his four cars come out on top.

"Today was the first real day of testing," he explained, "and we worked on several different aspects of the cars, including rollbars and suspension. We had four cars out there today, and there were a few teething problems but, overall, I'm very pleased with the reliability and speed of the Astra Coupes. We are looking forward to the first race at Brands Hatch."

Joining Vauxhall at Oulton, the works Peugeot 406s were out in force for the first time this season, with a third car for Touring Class new boy Dan Eaves having been completed in the early hours of the morning. The Toddington-based driver only managed to complete a short test session in the new car before calling it a day, but was clearly optimistic about the team's progress.

"We are getting there," he commented, "although it was annoying to have some problems with my car today. My team-mate Matt Neal is finding time, however, which is great considering that he was fourth fastest at the Brands Hatch test, and that the team hasn't tested that much. We are hoping to test next week when, hopefully, the weather will be on our side and we can get more [work] in."

Peugeot's motorsport director Mick Linford was unfazed by the team's times and performance, claiming that the day had been productive even if the yellow cars had not topped the timesheets.

"We've had a constructive day," he pointed out, "especially when you consider that we finished the third car early this morning so that we could run all three today. Unfortunately, Dan only managed a dozen or so laps before he developed a small problem with his car that couldn't be fixed at the circuit. Matt Neal and Steve Soper have been concentrating on learning the car and making changes to the set-up and, although we were off the pace today, as a team, we are not too concerned. If we had tested as much as Vauxhall at this stage, I am sure that we would be in a similar position to them."

Performance of the day, however, had to go to HTML's Production Class driver Simon Harrison, who finished both sessions in an impressive sixth position. His best time as just under nine-hundredths of a second behind Neal's works car, and proved to onlookers that the HTML Peugeot 306 could threaten the Touring Class teams in the feature race where both classes run together.

"This is the first test of the year where I've been quickest, and I'm very happy and excited for the team," Harrison smiled, "Both myself and my team-mate, Roger Moen, work really well together, and I think this is reflected by the fact that we were the two quickest Production drivers out there today. There is still some fine tuning to be done on the car before Brands Hatch, but I'm really looking forward to the race."

The first two rounds of the new-look BTCC take place at Brands Hatch on Easter Monday, 16 April.