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Knockhill BTCC: Colin Turkington fastest but Sam Tordoff gets pole

Colin Turkington topped British Touring Car Championship qualifying at Knockhill, but Sam Tordoff will start the first race from pole position

In a sensational session in which the order changed constantly, Turkington's WSR BMW was quiet in the early stages.

But the championship leader moved to the front just after half distance with a 52.076-second lap.

He then added another three laps good enough to top the times, culminating in a 51.705s.

"It was a fantastic lap," said Turkington. "Those are really pleasing when you get three purple [fastest] sectors."

But he will start ninth thanks to a penalty from a clash with Matt Neal at Snetterton.

Tordoff, whose best effort was almost half a second slower than Turkington, will thus start from pole in his Triple Eight MG6 (pictured below).

Last year's Knockhill polesitter Rob Austin is provisionally third fastest, and second on the grid.

He set a new personal best to go fifth in the closing moments, lost it due to a track limits transgression, then improved gain just as Lea Wood went off and the chequered flag flew.

The spectacular Andrew Jordan was next in Eurotech's Honda Civic. The reigning champion had led a Honda 1-2-3 early on, before the red flags flew thanks to an off by Chris Stockton. Although Jordan improved later, he fell to fourth.

The Honda Civic Tourers of Gordon Shedden and Neal were fifth and sixth, having both led the way earlier on. Shedden knocked a mirror off on the new chicane barrier and went off at Scotsman amid his efforts to improve.

Jason Plato's MG was seventh fastest, while Mat Jackson again led the Motorbase Ford Focus attack just behind.

Rob Collard was ninth in the second WSR BMW, but he will have to start at the back thanks to a penalty for clashes earlier in the season.

Despite Turkington's pace advantage, the top 16 cars were covered by less than a second.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car           Time       Gap
 1.  Colin Turkington     WSR BMW            51.705s*
 2.  Sam Tordoff          MG                 52.169s    +0.464s
 3.  Rob Austin           RAR Audi           52.206s    +0.501s
 4.  Andrew Jordan        Eurotech Honda     52.224s    +0.519s
 5.  Gordon Shedden       Honda              52.294s    +0.589s
 6.  Matt Neal            Honda              52.321s    +0.616s
 7.  Jason Plato          MG                 52.341s    +0.636s
 8.  Mat Jackson          Motorbase Ford     52.373s    +0.668s
 9.  Rob Collard          WSR BMW            52.397s    +0.692s**
10.  Nick Foster          WSR BMW            52.466s    +0.761s
11.  Glynn Geddie         UA Toyota          52.494s    +0.789s
12.  Hunter Abbott        RAR Audi           52.511s    +0.806s
13.  Marc Hynes           MG                 52.548s    +0.843s
14.  Tom Ingram           Speedworks Toyota  52.573s    +0.868s
15.  Alain Menu           BMR VW             52.580s    +0.875s
16.  Dave Newsham         AmD Ford           52.622s    +0.917s
17.  Aron Smith           BMR VW             52.733s    +1.028s
18.  Adam Morgan          Ciceley Mercedes   52.741s    +1.036s
19.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Motorbase Ford     52.847s    +1.142s
20.  Jack Goff            BMR VW             52.952s    +1.247s
21.  Aiden Moffat         Moffat Chevrolet   53.032s    +1.327s
22.  Warren Scott         BMR VW             53.131s    +1.426s
23.  Martin Depper        Eurotech Honda     53.152s    +1.447s
24.  Jack Clarke          Motorbase Ford     53.181s    +1.476s
25.  James Cole           UA Toyota          53.245s    +1.540s
26.  Lea Wood             Houseman Toyota    53.271s    +1.566s
27.  Robb Holland         Rotek Audi         53.365s    +1.660s
28.  Daniel Welch         Welch Proton       53.741s    +2.036s
29.  Simon Belcher        Handy Toyota       54.613s    +2.908s
30.  Ollie Jackson        Welch Proton       55.408s    +3.703s
31.  Chris Stockton       BTC Chevrolet      1m07.135s  +15.430s

* Will take eight-place grid penalty
** Will drop to back of grid with penalty

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