Onslow-Cole claims Thruxton pole
Tom Onslow-Cole took his second straight British Touring Car Championship pole with a sensational display at Thruxton
Just a day after celebrating his 21st birthday, Onslow-Cole found over 1.6 seconds on his practice pace to set the pole time in 1:17.165, despite only completing three laps in his Vauxhall Vectra.
Champion Fabrizio Giovanardi made it an all-Vauxhall front-row while Matt Neal put the third of the Triple Eight-run cars in fourth place.
The only non-Vauxhall on the front two rows was the Team Halfords Honda of Gordon Shedden, who had an off, filling his front splitter with grass and bringing his session to an end in the pits shortly before the finish, but still took third. Shedden's teammate Tom Chilton will line up fifth on the grid.
Jason Plato lost his times with ten minutes to go for failing a ride-height test, but he managed to rescue sixth, one place ahead of his SEAT teammate Darren Turner, with a flying lap right at the end of the session.
Colin Turkington was the best BMW driver, putting his Team RAC machine in eighth place, while Mike Jordan got the better of his son Andrew as the Eurotech-John Guest Hondas completed the top ten.
Mat Jackson was only 13th in his BMW Dealer UK entry, while the returning Gareth Howell suffered a wheel-bearing problem after his encouraging practice pace and will start 21st in his BTC SEAT.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Tom Onslow-Cole Vauxhall 1:17.165 2. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall 1:17.425 + 0.260 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1:17.516 + 0.351 4. Matt Neal Vauxhall 1:17.525 + 0.360 5. Tom Chilton Honda 1:17.712 + 0.547 6. Jason Plato SEAT 1:17.811 + 0.646 7. Darren Turner SEAT 1:17.847 + 0.682 8. Colin Turkington BMW 1:17.916 + 0.751 9. Mike Jordan Honda 1:18.015 + 0.850 10. Andrew Jordan Honda 1:18.028 + 0.863 11. Adam Jones SEAT 1:18.099 + 0.934 12. Mat Jackson BMW 1:18.223 + 1.058 13. Stephen Jelley BMW 1:18.517 + 1.352 14. Steven Kane BMW 1:19.316 + 2.151 15. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet 1:19.535 + 2.370 16. Rob Collard BMW 1:19.714 + 2.549 17. Jason Hughes Honda 1:19.888 + 2.723 18. John George Honda 1:20.466 + 3.301 19. Alan Taylor Honda 1:20.495 + 3.330 20. Erkut Kizilirmak Vauxhall 1:20.556 + 3.391 21. Gareth Howell SEAT 1:20.572 + 3.407 22. Michael Doyle Honda 1:20.804 + 3.639 23. Martyn Bell Vauxhall 1:21.584 + 4.419 24. Chris Stockton SEAT 1:21.595 + 4.430
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