Chilton gives Global Ford Focus first BTCC pole at Knockhill
Tom Chilton gave the Global Ford Focus its first pole position by topping a dramatic British Touring Car qualifying at Knockhill
Three red flags - caused by separate offs for Techspeed Chevrolet Cruze drivers John George and Paul O'Neill and the Arena Ford of Andy Neate - made for a fragmented session.
Honda Racing duo Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal initially set the pace before a sequence of fast laps took Chilton to the top of the timesheets.
In the closing 10 minutes, when many of the top runners set their fastest times, the Hondas edged closer to the Arena Motorsport driver. But Chilton settled the matter with a 52.999s lap in the last two minutes to take pole by 0.2s. Three of his earlier laps would also have been good enough for pole.
Despite Shedden (running 36kg of success ballast) being only 0.097s behind second-placed Neal (with 27kg of ballast), he ended up fifth. Late charges from NGTC runners Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota Avensis) and Rob Austin (Audi A4) moved them up to third and fourth respectively.
Reigning champion Jason Plato completed the top six after a slow start, topping the normally aspirated runners in his works Chevy.
Points leader Mat Jackson took his Motorbase Focus to seventh as the top 17 were covered by just 0.9s.
BTCC newcomer Aron Smith was 15th in his Vauxhall Vectra, just over a tenth slower than Triple Eight team-mate James Nash.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 52.999s 2. Matt Neal Honda 53.201s + 0.202s 3. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 53.222s + 0.223s 4. Rob Austin Rob Austin Audi 53.227s + 0.228s 5. Gordon Shedden Honda 53.298s + 0.299s 6. Jason Plato Chevrolet 53.338s + 0.339s 7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 53.377s + 0.378s 8. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 53.422s + 0.423s 9. Tom Onslow-Cole Arena Ford 53.472s + 0.473s 10. Rob Collard WSR BMW 53.580s + 0.581s 11. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 53.597s + 0.598s 12. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall 53.707s + 0.708s 13. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 53.735s + 0.736s 14. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 53.796s + 0.797s 15. Aron Smith Triple 8 Vauxhall 53.828s + 0.829s 16. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 53.867s + 0.868s 17. Nick Foster WSR BMW 53.886s + 0.887s 18. Martin Byford AmD Volkswagen 54.124s + 1.125s 19. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 54.251s + 1.252s 20. Andy Neate Arena Ford 54.334s + 1.335s 21. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT 54.415s + 1.416s 22. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 54.777s + 1.778s 23. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 55.425s + 2.426s 24. Chris James ES Chevrolet 55.904s + 2.905s
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