Aiello grabs Knockhill Sprint pole

The Championship leader, driving the #23 Nissan Primera, lapped the 1.3-mile Knockhill circuit in 53.039s seconds.

Rain threatened to be a factor during the session, a few drops of rain falling as Will Hoy made his way out onto the track.

However, the promised downpour failed to materialise, and Hoy's lap of 57.583s guaranteed him a place on the last row of the grid for tomorrow's Sprint race.

'We had trouble with the set-up, and there was not the grip we expected on the track,' he said afterwards.

He will start alongside independent driver Mark Blair, who brought out the red flags when he went off the track on his out-lap, failing to set a time.

Times dropped progressively when the session restarted.

Fifth out on the track, reigning champion Rickard Rydell took provisional pole with a lap of 53.190s in his Volvo S40.

Honda's import from the STW, Gabriele Tarquini, was next to occupy the provisional front spot.

'I am not really happy with my lap,' he said. 'I was wide on the second corner and lost one or two tenths. The potential of the car is much higher.'

Ford's Anthony Reid, whose team-mate Menu took pole for the feature race, knocked eight-tenths off Tarquini's time, before Aiello claimed pole withthe fastest time of the day.

Menu was not able to match his morning performance, set in the wet, and will start from sixth on a grid that has four manufacturers occupying the front four places.

Cleland and Muller, driving the Vauxhall Vectras, start from the seventh row of the grid.

Muller, who said after the morning that 'It can't get any worse,' proved that it could, dropping a place.

'It's very frustrating,' he added.