Onslow-Cole on top again at Donington

The Vauxhall driver improved on his time in the morning session to lap the circuit in 1:12.104 just seven minutes in. And despite the best efforts of the chasing pack, they were unable to knock him off the top spot.

SEAT proved the 20-year-old's biggest threat as Jason Plato and Darren Turner were second and third fastest, putting their best laps in during the final five minutes of the session. Plato was just 0.172 seconds behind Onslow-Cole.

Former champion Matt Neal, who is carrying 45 kilos of success ballast by virtue of his Rockingham victory, was fourth quickest for Vauxhall with the Team Halfords Hondas of Tom Chilton and Gordon Shedden next up.

Colin Turkington was the best BMW driver as the rear-wheel drive machines seemed to be at a significant disadvantage to the front-wheel drive opposition for the first time this season.

The Team RAC driver was just ahead of the Eurotech Hondas of Andrew and Mike Jordan, who were themselves spilt by the Vauxhall of champion Fabrizio Giovanardi.

Michael Doyle managed only two installation laps in his In-Tune Racing Honda while suffering from gear selection problems. Chris Stockton, meanwhile, had more problems in the clutch department in his BTC SEAT Toledo.

Both John George and Alan Taylor spun their Honda Integras into the gravel, George putting his TH Motorsport car into the stones at Coppice and Taylor gyrating in his Robertshaw entry at McLeans a few minutes later.

Pos Driver                Team          Time         Gap
 1. Tom Onslow-Cole       Vauxhall      1:12.104         
 2. Jason Plato           SEAT          1:12.276  +0.172 
 3. Darren Turner         SEAT          1:12.453  +0.349 
 4. Matt Neal             Vauxhall      1:12.557  +0.453 
 5. Tom Chilton           Honda         1:12.618  +0.514 
 6. Gordon Shedden        Honda         1:12.619  +0.515 
 7. Colin Turkington      BMW           1:12.708  +0.604 
 8. Andrew Jordan         Honda         1:12.764  +0.660 
 9. Fabrizio Giovanardi   Vauxhall      1:12.796  +0.692 
10. Mike Jordan           Honda         1:12.842  +0.738 
11. Stephen Jelley        BMW           1:13.298  +1.194 
12. Mat Jackson           BMW           1:13.317  +1.213 
13. Adam Jones            SEAT          1:13.340  +1.236 
14. Matt Allison          Chevrolet     1:13.435  +1.331 
15. Harry Vaulkhard       Chevrolet     1:13.569  +1.465 
16. Steven Kane           BMW           1:13.598  +1.494 
17. Rob Collard           BMW           1:13.673  +1.569 
18. Jason Hughes          Honda         1:13.759  +1.655 
19. Alan Taylor           Honda         1:14.278  +2.174 
20. John George           Honda         1:14.839  +2.735 
21. Martyn Bell           Vauxhall      1:14.839  +2.735 
22. Erkut Kizilirmak      Vauxhall      1:15.111  +3.007 
23. Stuart Oliver         Lexus         1:15.283  +3.179