Croft BTCC: Colin Turkington storms to pole for WSR BMW
Colin Turkington took pole for the British Touring Car Championship event at Croft after a dramatic qualifying session
Jason Plato's Triple Eight MG initially set the pace, being the first to dip below 1m24s with a 1m23.963s, but was almost immediately surpassed by Turkington and Andrew Jordan.
Jordan's Eurotech Honda Civic held pole for a few moments before another flyer by Turkington produced a 1m23.817s to move to the top of the timesheets.
After a brief red flag, Turkington recorded a 1m23.248s to move pole beyond the reach of everyone else.
"It was a really good lap," said Turkington, who was carrying 45kg of success ballast as the championship leader. "The chassis is working really well around here and we can carry the weight."
After being jumped by the works Honda Civic Tourers of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal, a late effort from Plato secured second. He made a small error on his next lap but believes Turkington's mark was out of reach anyway.
Shedden and Neal locked out the second row, while Jordan ended up fifth. He clipped the tyres early in the session, damaging the front of his Eurotech Civic, and failed to improve on his initial effort.
Rob Collard underlined the strength of the rear-wheel-drive WSR BMW around Croft by qualifying sixth, just ahead of the second Triple Eight MG of Sam Tordoff.
Adam Morgan was the worst affected by the red flag, having just recorded an outright best in sector one and a personal best in sector two when the session was stopped.
The Ciceley Mercedes man nevertheless qualified eighth, while Rob Austin took 10th, thanks to his team managing to rebuild the Audi A4 after his crash in free practice.
Aron Smith had a time disallowed for a track limits infringement and ended up 11th, and Dave Newhsam's AmD Ford Focus failed the rideheight test during the session.
Motorbase struggled, late improvements from Mat Jackson and Fabrizio Giovanardi only being good enough for 15th and 18th respectively.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m23.246s 2. Jason Plato MG 1m23.616s +0.370s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m23.768s +0.522s 4. Matt Neal Honda 1m23.872s +0.626s 5. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m23.881s +0.635s 6. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m23.978s +0.732s 7. Sam Tordoff MG 1m23.992s +0.746s 8. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes 1m24.113s +0.867s 9. Alain Menu BMR VW 1m24.182s +0.936s 10. Rob Austin RAR Audi 1m24.229s +0.983s 11. Aron Smith BMR VW 1m24.253s +1.007s 12. Marc Hynes MG 1m24.430s +1.184s 13. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m24.443s +1.197s 14. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1m24.527s +1.281s 15. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m24.538s +1.292s 16. Dave Newsham AmD Ford 1m24.696s +1.450s 17. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 1m24.724s +1.478s 18. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford 1m24.763s +1.517s 19. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall 1m24.911s +1.665s 20. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota 1m24.919s +1.673s 21. James Cole UA Toyota 1m24.932s +1.686s 22. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall 1m25.007s +1.761s 23. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford 1m25.164s +1.918s 24. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 1m25.218s +1.972s 25. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota 1m25.706s +2.460s 26. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 1m26.160s +2.914s 27. Ollie Jackson Welch Proton 1m26.697s +3.451s 28. Robb Holland Rotek Audi 1m26.926s +3.680s 29. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m26.966s +3.720s 30. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota 1m27.298s +4.052s 31. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet
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