Aron Smith secured pole position for Sunday’s opening BTCC race at Thruxton in a closely contested qualifying session interrupted by two lengthy red flag periods. The first of these came after just six minutes of running, when Simon Belcher’s Toyota and Mike Bushell’s Ford collided at high speed as the latter left the pits, both drivers badly damaging their cars with hefty contact with the barriers. Bushell was hospitalised as a result with a suspected broken left femur, while Belcher escaped injury but is unlikely to take further part in the event. Works Honda driver Matt Neal was the man to beat in the running that followed, sitting atop the timesheets with a 1m16.969s when the...
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