Silverstone BTCC: Jason Plato on pole ahead of Colin Turkington

The Triple Eight MGs set the pace throughout practice and Plato duly secured pole by 0.064 seconds, reducing his deficit to title leader Colin Turkington to 54 points.

Plato set the benchmark at 58.511s early in the session, despite 36kg of success ballast. He failed to improve with his later runs, recording two 58.6s and one 58.7s, but remained just out of reach of the pack.

Having spent some of the session around the back-end of the top six, Turkington (45kg of ballast) improved in the late stages to snatch second in his WSR BMW.

Plato's MG team-mate Sam Tordoff battled with the BMR VW CC of Aron Smith for third, eventually securing the spot with 58.578s.

Mat Jackson continued his fine form by also slipping ahead of the VW in his Motorbase Ford Focus.

Alain Menu nevertheless underlined the VW's pace with sixth, while BTCC rookie Tom Ingram (Speedworks Toyota Avensis) again impressed with seventh.

Marc Hynes was another to make a late improvement in his MG6, making it six TOCA-engined cars in the top eight.

Adam Morgan's Mercedes A-class was ninth, while Rob Austin's Audi rounded out the top 10.

As expected, the Hondas - running on relatively low turbo boost - struggled around a circuit at which straightline speed is crucial.

Reigning champion Andrew Jordan was 16th in his Eurotech Civic, albeit only around 0.5s off pole, while the works Honda Civic Tourers of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal will fill row nine.