Oulton Park BTCC: Colin Turkington takes pole for WSR BMW in wet
Colin Turkington qualified on pole for the British Touring Car Championship round at Oulton Park after a dramatic session
On a drying track, the times tumbled throughout and Jason Plato's Triple Eight MG6 led the way for most of the 30 minutes, each time going faster before the chasing pack could usurp him.
Despite losing his best lap due to a track limits infringement, Plato headed team-mate Sam Tordoff when Adam Morgan crashed his Ciceley Mercedes at Druids and brought out the red flags.
But when the session resumed, with 10 minutes to go, Turkington's WSR BMW came to the fore.
First he recorded a time of 1m42.778s, then 1m42.310s to secure his first pole of 2014.
That means Alain Menu's qualifying record of 1m41.93s, set in 1994 in a Super Touring Renault Laguna, still stands.
Plato responded in the closing moments with a 1m42.959s, within a few thousandths of his previous disallowed time, but had to settle for second.
A crash for Jack Clarke's Motorbase Ford Focus at Druids then brought the session to a close in the final scheduled minute.
Gordon Shedden was one of many late improvers, taking third with 1m43.140s, while Rob Collard made it two WSR BMWs in the top four.
Tordoff failed to improve in the final 10 minutes and thus slipped to fifth, and Rob Austin (Audi A4) managed a 1m43.632s to take sixth.
Having struggled just inside the top 20 early on, Tom Ingram qualified ninth in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis with a late charge, just behind the third MG of Marc Hynes.
Aron Smith's BMR VW Passat failed the ride-height test in the first half of the session, but recovered to 11th.
Several big names had difficult sessions. Championship leader Andrew Jordan failed to improve in the final 10 minutes and fell from sixth to 13th.
Matt Neal did improve, but only made it to 14th, one slot ahead of Menu's BMR Passat.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m42.310s 2. Jason Plato MG 1m42.959s +0.649s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m43.140s +0.830s 4. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m43.459s +1.149s 5. Sam Tordoff MG 1m43.493s +1.183s 6. Rob Austin RAR Audi 1m43.632s +1.322s 7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m43.690s +1.380s 8. Marc Hynes MG 1m43.848s +1.538s 9. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1m43.853s +1.543s 10. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m43.863s +1.553s 11. Aron Smith BMR VW 1m43.906s +1.596s 12. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford 1m44.067s +1.757s 13. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m44.250s +1.940s 14. Matt Neal Honda 1m44.269s +1.959s 15. Alain Menu BMR VW 1m44.294s +1.984s 16. Dave Newsham AmD Ford 1m44.420s +2.110s 17. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall 1m44.488s +2.178s 18. James Cole UA Toyota 1m44.533s +2.223s 19. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 1m44.546s +2.236s 20. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota 1m44.602s +2.292s 21. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall 1m44.708s +2.398s 22. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford 1m44.754s +2.444s 23. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota 1m45.881s +3.571s 24. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 1m45.907s +3.597s 25. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes 1m46.373s +4.063s 26. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 1m47.038s +4.728s 27. Robb Holland Rotek Audi 1m48.279s +5.969s 28. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m49.851s +7.541s 29. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet 1m53.509s +11.199s 30. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota 1m57.128s +14.818s 31. Ollie Jackson Welch Proton 2m14.913s +32.603s
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