Oulton Park BTCC: Jason Plato tops three-way fight for pole

Team BMR driver Plato continued his good form from practice into qualifying, hitting top spot early on with a 1m25.575s.

The Volkswagen CC man better that twice to get down to a 1m25.484s, a crucial improvement that bested Honda's Neal by just 0.011s.

Plato could have gone quicker but did not string his best sectors together, which gave Neal and Priaulx an opportunity to nick pole.

Three-time world champion Priaulx looked most likely, twice going purple in the opening sector, but was unable to complete either lap at the same pace and had to settle for third - just 0.071s slower than Plato.

Plato did emerge late on to try and respond to the threat of his Honda and BMW rivals, but failed to improve again - though he was fortunate to even get back on track after his brakes caught fire briefly in the pitlane with a few minutes remaining.

"It was a really exciting session," he said. "That was a very good scrap for pole.

"This is a brakes circuit. Once you've finished your lap and stopped on the scales you're in trouble. It just got a bit hot."

The top three enjoyed a decent advantage over the next gaggle of cars, headed by Andrew Jordan.

The 2013 champion was quickest in the early stages and eventually secured his best qualifying result since joining MG for this season in fourth.

Gordon Shedden matched Jordan's time in the second Civic Type-R, but will start fifth after setting the time later in the session.

Colin Turkington's quiet Saturday continued with the sixth-best time, almost half a second slower than team-mate Plato, and just ahead of the late-improving Aron Smith in the third VW CC.

Jack Goff pumped in a late flier to go eighth in the other MG, while Tom Ingram continued Speedworks Motorsport's strong start to the weekend with ninth.

Thruxton race winner Adam Morgan completed the top 10 in his Ciceley Racing Mercedes A-class.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: