Plato grabs first pole of 2011

The reigning champion was in contention throughout qualifying and decided on a significant set-up change during the session. The Chevrolet Cruze driver left it late, making his final run with around two minutes to go.

With personal bests in all sectors, Plato recorded 1m24.839s to push Honda's Matt Neal, who had only just moved to the top of the timesheets himself, off pole.

Rob Collard took third after an impressive effort with his WSR BMW. His 1m25.391s was recorded early on in the half-hour session and kept him at the top until the final moments.

Plato's team-mate Alex MacDowall was fourth, making it three normally aspirated cars in the top four in the first qualifying session since the turbos were handed a further 0.05 bar boost reduction.

Vauxhall Vectra drivers Andrew Jordan (Eurotech/Pirtek) and James Nash (Triple 8) completed the top six, while Gordon Shedden could only manage seventh in his Honda Civic.

Tom Chilton (Arena Motorsport) was the top Ford Focus in eighth, pipping the Motorbase version of Mat Jackson. He was also 0.7s faster than new team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole, who is running 45kg of ballast as the car is a new entry.

Rob Austin continued the improvement in form for the NGTC Audi with 11th.

Pos  Driver           Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet             1m24.839s
 2.  Matt Neal        Honda                 1m25.211s  + 0.372s
 3.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW               1m25.391s  + 0.552s
 4.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet             1m25.547s  + 0.708s
 5.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Vauxhall     1m25.575s  + 0.736s
 6.  James Nash       Triple 8 Vauxhall     1m25.656s  + 0.817s
 7.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                 1m25.674s  + 0.835s
 8.  Tom Chilton      Arena Ford            1m25.820s  + 0.981s
 9.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford        1m25.928s  + 1.089s
10.  Paul O'Neill     Tech-Speed Chevrolet  1m25.991s  + 1.152s
11.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi           1m26.189s  + 1.350s
12.  Tom Boardman     Special Tuning SEAT   1m26.247s  + 1.408s
13.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW               1m26.314s  + 1.475s
14.  Dave Newsham     Special Tuning SEAT   1m26.505s  + 1.666s
15.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Arena Ford            1m26.532s  + 1.693s
16.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Vauxhall     1m26.624s  + 1.785s
17.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota        1m26.963s  + 2.124s
18.  Andy Neate       Arena Ford            1m27.146s  + 2.307s
19.  Tony Gilham      Triple 8 Vauxhall     1m27.192s  + 2.353s
20.  Lea Wood         Central Honda         1m27.632s  + 2.793s
21.  Shaun Hollamby   AmD Volkswagen        1m28.215s  + 3.376s
22.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford        1m28.456s  + 3.617s
23.  John George      Tech-Speed Chevrolet  1m28.732s  + 3.893s
24.  Chris James      ES Chevrolet          1m29.977s  + 5.138s