{"id":128,"date":"2015-08-25T13:55:34","date_gmt":"2015-08-25T13:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/2015\/08\/25\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/"},"modified":"2015-08-25T13:55:34","modified_gmt":"2015-08-25T13:55:34","slug":"td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip"},"content":{"rendered":"

A breathless session saw a quite staggering 23 cars blanketed by just eight tenths of a second with positions changing at almost every moment. Such was the competitiveness that the ballast-laden VW of Jason Plato could only manage 22nd on the grid, although the double champion has cited an as yet unknown problem with his Team BMR RCIB Insurance machine. Jason Plato<\/strong>, right after the race:<\/p>\n

“Something fundamental has happened TODAY
\n<\/a> because it was a completely different car to the one we had in free practice”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sam Tordoff<\/strong> looked to have stolen pole position from under the nose of Motorbase Performance\u2019s Mat Jackson<\/strong>, with the latter combination going for their first ever P1 in qualifying. Tordoff\u2019s BMW 125i M Sport flashed across the line to move to the summit with just two minutes to go.<\/p>\n

\"p1\"<\/a>
First 6 Line-up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Tordoff and Jackson held on to second and third, while WSR\u2019s Rob Collard moved into fourth after recovering from an off-track excursion during one of his late flyers. Gordon Shedden \u2013 who had dominated both practice sessions earlier in the day \u2013 had to settle for fifth, just 0.005s off the second row pace. It could have been better for the Scotsman but one of his fastest attempts was scuppered when his Honda Yuasa Racing team-mate Matt Neal went off, bringing about one of red flag periods. The 2012 champion shook his head as he returned to the pitlane, possibly in the knowledge that his best opportunity had been wasted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Regular Knockhill front row starter Rob Austin<\/strong> could only manage sixth this time around, but it still represented his best performance of the season in the Exocet AlcoSense Audi A4. Neal held on to seventh despite his spin.<\/p>\n

\"p4\"<\/a>
Andrew Jordan – MG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MG\u2019s Andrew Jordan<\/strong> took eighth with his last attempt also ruined after he ran wide and into the gravel in his Pirtek-backed MG6.<\/p>\n

Ninth wouldn\u2019t normally be something to celebrate for Colin Turkington<\/strong>, but the reigning champion was Team BMR RCIB Insurance\u2019s top performer and he also maintained his record of qualifying inside the top ten of every 2015 event. Adam Morgan<\/strong>\u2019s WIX Racing Mercedes was relegated to tenth by Turkington with the duo split by just 0.001s. Unbelievably close gaps continued throughout the order with the likes of Snetterton race winner Jack Goff, Aron Smith and Plato among the notable absentees from the top ten.<\/p>\n

Plato was another to abort his last flyer attempt following a trip through the gravel and the double champion had to settle for the lowest grid position in his BTCC career \u2013 the championship leader will have it all to do from 22nd on the grid. Plato has suggested, however, that he\u2019ll likely start from the pitlane \u2013 as he did at Croft earlier this season \u2013 in a bid to grab pole position for race two.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough session, there was only a very short window to squeeze the lap TIME I NEEDED”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He continued: “It\u2019s dangerous to expect anything, I knew coming into the weekend that we\u2019d be strong, but to be fair I\u2019ve had to get my head around the circuit, it\u2019s been a long time since I raced here! A few things have changed, the kerbs are different through the chicane for example which makes a big difference. The track was going up and down in grip level, and while it didn\u2019t drop massively it was pretty greasy and in those conditions it\u2019s very easy to make a mistake. I knew that we had to be out there and get that free lap, and we stole it right at the end which is mega really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon Shedden<\/strong> made it a significant double in the second practice session as the Scotsman fired out a warning ahead of this afternoon\u2019s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying session.<\/p>\n

\"p3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s still a little more to come from the car too,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we do it when it matters though and that\u2019s in qualifying. It\u2019s going okay but I\u2019m sure the others will find some time too.\u201d Honda Yuasa Racing\u2019s Shedden became the first and only driver to break the 52 second barrier<\/strong><\/em> in either of the practice sessions and now his Civic Type R, which shed some success ballast coming into the event, looks in particularly good shape for the weekend.<\/p>\n

\n

It was another Honda one-two in the second practice session, but maybe not the combination you will have expected as the Independent Eurotech-run Honda Civic of Jeff Smith<\/strong> claimed second. Smith topped FP2 for much of the running but also had to recover from an off-track moment on the very next lap after setting his benchmark.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Despite dropping to second at the finish, Smith was delighted with his progress. \u201cI\u2019m really pleased with that,\u201d he enthused. \u201cI had a bit of a scary moment at the jump after having an off but we won\u2019t dwell on that. The pace is in the car but I actually think there\u2019s more to come from me so that bodes well for this afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"p2\"<\/a>
Jeff Smith Runner Up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Smith wasn\u2019t the only driver to return to the track relatively unscathed after a spin as both the Honda of Matt Neal<\/strong> and Ford Focus of Alex Martin<\/strong> also endured moments during the session.<\/p>\n

West Surrey Racing again showed well in third, fifth and seventh respectively with championship challenger Sam Tordoff<\/strong> getting the better of his more experienced team-mates Andy Priaulx<\/strong> and Rob Collard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mat Jackson<\/strong> and Andrew Jordan<\/strong> proved that they\u2019ll be in the mix again this afternoon with solid top six results in practice.<\/p>\n

Adam Morgan<\/strong>, Jason Plato<\/strong> and Tom Ingram<\/strong> completed the top ten order, but with all three facing different challenges. Morgan again left it late to fire his Mercedes A-Class up the order while Plato\u2019s Team BMR RCIB Insurance squad admits it may not be setting the ultimate pace this weekend. Speedworks again broke into the leading ten with Ingram, but its achilles heel seems to be getting much beyond that. Qualifying will determine whether Ingram can haul his Toyota Avensis into the fight for a top six grid berth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A breathless session saw a quite staggering 23 cars blanketed by just eight tenths of a second with positions changing at almost every moment. Such was the competitiveness that the ballast-laden VW of Jason Plato could only manage 22nd on the grid, although the double champion has cited an as yet unknown problem with his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tests"},"yoast_head":"\n2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip - Newspaper Cars Demo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip - Newspaper Cars Demo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A breathless session saw a quite staggering 23 cars blanketed by just eight tenths of a second with positions changing at almost every moment. Such was the competitiveness that the ballast-laden VW of Jason Plato could only manage 22nd on the grid, although the double champion has cited an as yet unknown problem with his […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newspaper Cars Demo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TagDiv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-25T13:55:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1068\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Smith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/tagdivofficial\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/\",\"name\":\"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip - Newspaper Cars Demo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-25T13:55:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-25T13:55:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#\/schema\/person\/a2ccfbda3086838afbebaba499e2a67b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg\",\"width\":1068,\"height\":712},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/\",\"name\":\"Newspaper Cars Demo\",\"description\":\"The Best News WordPress Theme by tagDiv\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#\/schema\/person\/a2ccfbda3086838afbebaba499e2a67b\",\"name\":\"Adam Smith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/john-smith.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/john-smith.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Adam Smith\"},\"description\":\"Raised by \u201ccar enthusiasts\u201d in Nametown, New Mexico, after a childhood filled with cars, trucks, motor homes and boats of every brand, Marcus decided to leave oil changes, car repairs and parts buying and chose to follow his heart and start writing.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.adam-smith.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TagDiv\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tagdiv\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/tagdivofficial\",\"#\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/tagdiv\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip - Newspaper Cars Demo","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip - Newspaper Cars Demo","og_description":"A breathless session saw a quite staggering 23 cars blanketed by just eight tenths of a second with positions changing at almost every moment. Such was the competitiveness that the ballast-laden VW of Jason Plato could only manage 22nd on the grid, although the double champion has cited an as yet unknown problem with his […]","og_url":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/","og_site_name":"Newspaper Cars Demo","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TagDiv\/","article_published_time":"2015-08-25T13:55:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1068,"height":712,"url":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Adam Smith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/tagdivofficial","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adam Smith","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/","url":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/","name":"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip - Newspaper Cars Demo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg","datePublished":"2015-08-25T13:55:34+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-25T13:55:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#\/schema\/person\/a2ccfbda3086838afbebaba499e2a67b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/57.jpg","width":1068,"height":712},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/td-post-2017-ford-raptor-dominates-an-off-road-trailchip\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2017 Ford Raptor Dominates an Off-Road Trailchip"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#website","url":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/","name":"Newspaper Cars Demo","description":"The Best News WordPress Theme by tagDiv","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#\/schema\/person\/a2ccfbda3086838afbebaba499e2a67b","name":"Adam Smith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/john-smith.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/john-smith.jpg","caption":"Adam Smith"},"description":"Raised by \u201ccar enthusiasts\u201d in Nametown, New Mexico, after a childhood filled with cars, trucks, motor homes and boats of every brand, Marcus decided to leave oil changes, car repairs and parts buying and chose to follow his heart and start writing.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.adam-smith.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TagDiv\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tagdiv\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/tagdivofficial","#","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/tagdiv"],"url":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tagdiv.com\/newspaper_cars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}