Chilton on pole as Vauxhall dominate
Vauxhall scored a one-two-three in qualifying at Thruxton for the first of tomorrow's three British Touring Car Championship races
Tom Chilton set pole with a lap of 1:17.269 in his Vectra, ahead of Fabrizio Giovanardi and the team's guest driver, former double BTCC champion Alain Menu.
"I absolutely love this place, it's awesome," said Chilton, who was celebrating his first pole position of the season. "Last time we were here I was leading but had a puncture. That won't happen this time - you cannot have bad luck in the same place twice."
Giovanardi's second place gives him the advantage over title rival Jason Plato, who qualified his SEAT Leon in fourth place. Plato has a nine-point advantage over Giovanardi in the drivers' title battle, which will be settled tomorrow, with a maximum of 51 points on offer.
Plato, who is racing with significant burns to his hands following an incident while filming for a television programme earlier this week, said: "I've got two Vauxhalls to get past and their mission is to not let that happen. I'll just have to do the best I can. I know our race pace is strong."
Giovanardi was satisfied with his qualifying but said "anything could happen" in the races tomorrow.
The Independent drivers' title will also be settled tomorrow, with four drivers in with a shout. Team RAC's Colin Turkington was the highest qualifier of those, setting the sixth-fastest time.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Tom Chilton Vauxhall 1:17.269 2. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall 1:17.439 + 0.170 3. Alain Menu Vauxhall 1:17.611 + 0.342 4. Jason Plato SEAT 1:17.856 + 0.587 5. Matt Neal Honda 1:17.887 + 0.618 6. Colin Turkington BMW 1:17.929 + 0.660 7. Darren Turner SEAT 1:17.947 + 0.678 8. Mike Jordan Honda 1:18.019 + 0.750 9. Gordon Shedden Honda 1:18.067 + 0.798 10. Matt Allison SEAT 1:18.225 + 0.956 11. Mat Jackson BMW 1:18.366 + 1.097 12. Tom Coronel SEAT 1:18.482 + 1.213 13. Tom Onslow-Cole BMW 1:18.811 + 1.542 14. Adam Jones SEAT 1:18.825 + 1.556 15. John George Honda 1:19.089 + 1.820 16. Eoin Murray Alfa Romeo 1:19.108 + 1.839 17. Rob Collard SEAT 1:19.319 + 2.050 18. Paul O'Neill SEAT 1:19.412 + 2.143 19. Erkut Kizilirmak Vauxhall 1:19.953 + 2.684 20. Jason Hughes MG 1:20.288 + 3.019 21. David Pinkney Alfa Romeo 1:20.647 + 3.378 22. Alan Taylor Honda 1:22.375 + 5.106 23. Martyn Bell BMW 1:22.624 + 5.355 24. Fiona Leggate MG
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