Knockhill BTCC: Jason Plato edges Rob Collard to claim wet pole

In a wet session, the works Honda of Gordon Shedden initially set the pace until his best of 57.482s was disallowed for exceeding the track limits.

That allowed Plato's works MG6 and Rob Collard (WSR BMW) to battle it out for pole.

Collard held the top spot for some time with 57.425s, but Plato then recorded a 57.128s, just before American Robb Holland went off and brought out the red flags.

With the rain returning, there were few improvements after the restart, although Plato did set a second time good enough for pole.

One of the few to improve was Aron Smith. The Motorbase Ford Focus driver put in his best BTCC qualifying performance to secure third.

Tom Onslow-Cole made it two WSR BMWs in the top four, while Frank Wrathall's Dynojet Toyota Avensis took fifth.

Shedden eventually set a time of 57.605s to qualify sixth having been in the top two throughout the earlier dry running.

BTCC returnee Paul O'Neill had to abandon a rapid lap due to Holland's off, but still managed a late improvement to take seventh before an incident involving Adam Morgan brought the session to a premature end.

Championship leader Matt Neal was eighth, having battled with a boost control problem throughout the day.

Fellow Honda driver Andrew Jordan (Eurotech) also struggled to 11th as the top 14 in the 19-car field was covered by one second.

Pos  Driver           Team/Car           Time     Gap
 1.  Jason Plato      MG                 57.128s
 2.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW            57.425s  + 0.297s
 3.  Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford     57.478s  + 0.350s
 4.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW            57.533s  + 0.405s
 5.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota     57.572s  + 0.444s
 6.  Gordon Shedden   Honda              57.605s  + 0.477s
 7.  Paul O'Neill     Speedworks Toyota  57.650s  + 0.522s
 8.  Matt Neal        Honda              57.688s  + 0.560s
 9.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford     57.776s  + 0.648s
10.  Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall        57.804s  + 0.676s
11.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda     57.895s  + 0.767s
12.  Daniel Welch     Welch Proton       57.938s  + 0.810s
13.  Adam Morgan      Speedworks Toyota  58.036s  + 0.908s
14.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW            58.082s  + 0.954s
15.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda     58.252s  + 1.124s
16.  Andy Neate       MG                 58.706s  + 1.578s
17.  Lea Wood         Wood Vauxhall      58.836s  + 1.708s
18.  Robb Holland     Gilham Honda       59.000s  + 1.872s
19.  Chris James      ES Vauxhall        59.017s  + 1.889s