Rockingham BTCC: MG's Sam Tordoff takes dominant pole
Sam Tordoff will start from pole position for the second British Touring Car Championship event in a row after dominating qualifying at Rockingham
The MG youngster, who had set the pace in the first practice session, outpaced team-mate Jason Plato on their first runs by one-tenth of a second but was almost half a second quicker next time round as the MG6s circulated in tandem.
As in practice, the gaps behind the lead MG were mostly measurable in hundredths and thousandths rather than tenths.
Alain Menu's BMR Volkswagen CC headed the chase initially, but he faded as the session wore on and others came to the fore.
Tordoff and Plato - who has avoided a grid penalty for the first race - had also set their times early in the session and did not improve later on, allowing championship leader Colin Turkington to split them with a late flier.
The 2009 champion first moved in to third, then was one of three drivers - the others being Chris Stockton and Warren Scott - to spin on oil dropped by Ollie Jackson's expiring Welch Proton.
He returned to the pits, and though the WSR BMW driver's best lap was not perfect when he emerged again - courtesy of a lock up under braking for the Tarzan hairpin - it was still good enough to edge championship rival Plato for a spot on the front row by just 0.012 seconds.
Gordon Shedden lingered near the foot of the top 10 for the majority of the session but put his Honda Civic Tourer on the second row alongside Plato after twice improving in the final 10 minutes, with Andrew Jordan's hatchback Civic just 0.073s behind in fifth.
Adam Morgan secured the best qualifying result of his Ciceley Motorsport team's Mercedes A-Class's debut season in sixth, while one place back ex-British Formula 3 champion Marc Hynes claimed his own BTCC-best starting position to add to the Triple Eight-run MG squad's joy.
Menu dropped to eighth by the session's end, but still fared better than the second Dynamics-run estate of Matt Neal, who only managed ninth.
He will share the fifth row with the Motorbase Ford Focus of Knockhill race winner Mat Jackson.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Sam Tordoff MG 1m22.471s 2. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m22.955s +0.484s 3. Jason Plato MG 1m22.967s +0.496s 4. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m23.124s +0.653s 5. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m23.197s +0.726s 6. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes 1m23.251s +0.780s 7. Marc Hynes MG 1m23.265s +0.794s 8. Alain Menu BMR VW 1m23.280s +0.809s 9. Matt Neal Honda 1m23.360s +0.889s 10. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m23.396s +0.925s 11. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford 1m23.419s +0.948s 12. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1m23.422s +0.951s 13. Rob Austin RAR Audi 1m23.578s +1.107s 14. Aron Smith BMR VW 1m23.642s +1.171s 15. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m23.718s +1.247s 16. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m23.960s +1.489s 17. Jack Goff BMR VW 1m24.018s +1.547s 18. Warren Scott BMR VW 1m24.019s +1.548s 19. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford 1m24.035s +1.564s 20. Dave Newsham AmD Ford 1m24.113s +1.642s 21. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 1m24.115s +1.644s 22. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota 1m24.130s +1.659s 23. James Cole UA Toyota 1m24.195s +1.724s 24. Robb Holland Rotek Audi 1m24.366s +1.895s 25. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota 1m24.449s +1.978s 26. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 1m24.661s +2.190s 27. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota 1m24.797s +2.326s 28. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet 1m24.902s +1.947s 29. Dan Welch Welch Proton 1m26.015s +3.544s 30. Ollie Jackson Welch Proton 1m26.284s +3.813s 31. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 1m26.428s +3.957s
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