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Onslow-Cole ends pole draught

Tom Onslow-Cole claimed his first British Touring Car Championship pole position for two years as he qualified quickest at Oulton Park

The Arena Ford driver's initial effort had him sixth quickest as the halfway point of the session approached, but on his second run he leapt to the top of the order with a lap of 1m27.330s to knock Gordon Shedden off the top spot.

Honda driver Shedden's time, which he could not improve on, was only 0.020 seconds slower than Onslow-Cole's as the Arena man took his third career pole.

Chevrolet duo Jason Plato and Alex MacDowall both just failed to take pole with their best efforts, Plato's third spot being his best of 2010. Both drivers were within seven hundredths of a second of the pace.

Tom Chilton, who was looking for a hat-trick of poles this season, could not do better than fifth as he had to pass the slower Forster BMW of Martin Depper on his final lap.

Rob Collard's WSR BMW and the Honda of championship leader Matt Neal were sixth and seventh.

Paul O'Neill's Tech-Speed Honda ground to a halt at the Island hairpin just nine minutes into the session. However, O'Neill's time was still good enough for a season-best eighth spot.

Mat Jackson (Motorbase BMW) and James Nash (Triple 8 Vauxhall) completed the top 10 while further back Lea Wood (Wood Honda) and Andy Neate (WSR BMW) took their career best grid spots in 13th and 14th.

The Forster BMWs also qualified higher than they have ever been before. Depper was the best of the team's drivers in 17th, one place ahead of Arthur Forster.

After his practice problems, Andrew Jordan did not take part in the session as the Eurotech mechanics could not replace the engine in his Vauxhall Vectra in time. He will start from the back of the grid in race one.

Pos  Driver           Car         Time       Gap
 1.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Ford        1m27.330s
 2.  Gordon Shedden   Honda       1m27.350s  + 0.020s
 3.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet   1m27.389s  + 0.059s
 4.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet   1m27.399s  + 0.069s
 5.  Tom Chilton      Ford        1m27.566s  + 0.236s
 6.  Rob Collard      BMW         1m27.653s  + 0.323s
 7.  Matt Neal        Honda       1m27.785s  + 0.455s
 8.  Paul O'Neill     Honda       1m27.861s  + 0.531s
 9.  Mat Jackson      BMW         1m27.905s  + 0.575s
10.  James Nash       Vauxhall    1m28.442s  + 1.112s
11.  Steven Kane      BMW         1m28.505s  + 1.175s
12.  Tom Boardman     SEAT        1m28.600s  + 1.270s
13.  Lea Wood         Honda       1m28.965s  + 1.635s
14.  Andy Neate       BMW         1m29.051s  + 1.721s
15.  David Pinkney    Vauxhall    1m29.059s  + 1.729s
16.  Matt Hamilton    Honda       1m29.453s  + 2.123s
17.  Martin Depper    BMW         1m29.495s  + 2.165s
18.  Arthur Forster   BMW         1m29.775s  + 2.445s
19.  John George      Honda       1m29.895s  + 2.565s
20.  Shaun Hollamby   Volkswagen  1m30.732s  + 3.402s
21.  Martin Johnson   Vauxhall    1m32.042s  + 4.712s
22.  Andrew Jordan    Vauxhall

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