Brands Hatch BTCC: Jason Plato takes pole as Matt Neal crashes

Plato and his Triple Eight MG team-mate Sam Tordoff swapped times at the top before Neal's works Honda Civic got sideways at Paddock Hill Bend and crashed into the inside barriers.

Neal emerged unscathed but the red flags flew, leaving just 15 minutes of running at the restart.

Plato went even faster after the session resumed with a 1m31.225s lap, then 1m31.214s, while Tordoff also improved to be within 0.036s of the double champion.

Behind the dominant MGs, championship leader Andrew Jordan completed the top three in his Eurotech Honda with a run in the final five minutes.

Gordon Shedden also improved in the closing moments to put the sole remaining works Civic on row two.

Adam Morgan's Ciceley Toyota left it late but managed a 1m31.678s to put him ahead of Colin Turkington's WSR BMW, which set its time early in the session and then struggled later on. The 2009 champion even had an off as he tried to improve.

Tom Onslow-Cole was the top Motorbase Ford Focus in seventh, helped by the fact that team-mate Aron Smith missed the session after his free practice crash.

NGTC debutant Jake Hill was a fine 10th in Rob Austin Racing's second Audi A4, while Neal ended up 16th fastest.

Pos Driver              Car                 Time       Gap      Laps
 1. Jason Plato         MG                  1m31.214s             10
 2. Sam Tordoff         MG                  1m31.250s  +0.036s    13
 3. Andrew Jordan       Eurotech Honda      1m31.586s  +0.372s    14
 4. Gordon Shedden      Honda               1m31.663s  +0.449s    15
 5. Adam Morgan         Ciceley Toyota      1m31.678s  +0.464s    15
 6. Colin Turkington    WSR BMW             1m31.709s  +0.495s    14
 7. Tom Onslow-Cole     Motorbase Ford      1m31.712s  +0.498s    15
 8. Frank Wrathall      Dynojet Toyota      1m31.771s  +0.557s    15
 9. Rob Collard         WSR BMW             1m32.058s  +0.844s    13
10. Jake Hill           Exocet Audi         1m32.180s  +0.966s    15
11. Dave Newsham        Speedworks Toyota   1m32.240s  +1.026s    15
12. Mat Jackson         Motorbase Ford      1m32.375s  +1.161s    13
13. Rob Austin          Austin Audi         1m32.570s  +1.356s    17
14. Nick Foster         WSR BMW             1m32.621s  +1.407s    15
15. Ollie Jackson       Speedworks Toyota   1m32.706s  +1.492s    15
16. Matt Neal           Honda               1m32.724s  +1.510s     6
17. Jack Goff           Hard Vauxhall       1m32.751s  +1.537s    10
18. Warren Scott        BMR Volkswagen      1m32.907s  +1.693s    15
19. Lea Wood            Wood Vauxhall       1m33.505s  +2.291s    15*
20. Aiden Moffat        Hard Volkswagen     1m33.637s  +2.423s    16
21. Daniel Welch        Welch Proton        1m33.640s  +2.426s     7
22. Liam Griffin        Motorbase Ford      1m33.770s  +2.556s    15*
23. Tom Barley          RCIB Vauxhall       1m34.480s  +3.266s    15
24. Shaun Hollamby      AmD Volkswagen      1m35.055s  +3.841s    13*
25. Aron Smith          Motorbase Ford      -

* S2000