Qualifying: MG on pole!

Both grids will have a distinctly unfamiliar look tomorrow with an MG and an Egg Vauxhall on the front row of each and Aaron Slight third on the grid in the Independents' Cup Barwell Astra for the feature. Matt Neal joined Reid in the select band of pole winners.

In part one of the hyphenated qualifying session, Neal topped the times - all significantly slower than in free practice the day before, thanks, most thought, to on-going effects from F1 testing in the week. Warren Hughes put in a quick late lap to annex second place on the grid, while row two was also an Egg/MG affair with Paul O'Neill third ahead of Reid.

In part two though, Reid who'd led the way in free practice put a good lap together and grabbed the pole. "I didn't have the best balance," admitted Reid, "but there was plenty of grip out there. It's clear we've made some progress." The Scot had a fresh engine in his ZS this weekend, but not one with the hoped for development step included. That had given builder AER cause to worry about its durability and is on hold. Nevertheless team boss Dick Bennetts reckoned it to be probably a slightly better engine than the one it replaced.

O'Neill was the other consistent front man and the inexperienced Liverpudlian was on top of his game again this weekend after a disappointing time in rounds five and six at Thruxton. "I'm fired up," said O'Neill. "They've all been giving me a good talking to and now it's believe in yourself and the world can be yours..."

Slight's top time though came pretty much out of the blue. The former biker had shown much-improved form in testing at Snetterton recently, but had not repeated that here until the second part of qualifying. Nonetheless, the New Zealander has proved a tough racer already and it would be no surprise to see him convert third on the grid into a top result.

At Vauxhall Motorsport James Thompson and Yvan Muller had to carry more weight than anyone else and had other problems too. Thompson reckoned that he and his engineer had not quite got to grips with set-up on the first hot track the cars have seen this year and was fifth in both parts. Muller as winner of the last round was heaviest of all, and he had a misfire. That meant seventh and 12th for the unhappy pre-weekend joint points leader - Neal has now crept into a solo lead thanks to a pole point.

The really good news is that on the grid for the feature race the top 14 cars all lapped within seven tenths of second of pole - the sprint figures are almost as good with the top 11 covered by 0.6s. Stir in the mere tenth of a second that separated the six between sixth and 11th in the feature and the BTCC revival at last looks to have some real substance.

In BTC production it was all about Kelvin Burt, who was quickest for both races in the GA Motorsport/Team Dynamics Alfa 156. James Kaye and the Synchro Honda looks the only driver in with any chance of troubling the returning former British F3 champion.


Matt Neal (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 1m28.231s 91.76mph
Warren Hughes (MG ZS) 1m28.232s 91.66mph
Paul O'Neill (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 1m28.359s 91.63mph
Anthony Reid (MG ZS) 1m28.462s 91.52mph
James Thompson (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 1m28.581s 91.40mph
Alan Morrison (Honda Civic Type-R) 1m28.655s 91.32mph
Yvan Muller (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 1m28.677s 91.30mph
Gareth Howell (MG ZS) 1m28.714s 91.26mph
Tim Harvey (Peugeot 406 Coupe) 1m28.770s 91.20mph
Colin Turkington (MG ZS) 1m28.800s 91.17mph


Kelvin Burt (Alfa Romeo 156) 1m32.674s 87.36mph
James Kaye (Honda Civic Type-R) 1m32.737s 87.30mph
Norman Simon (BMW 320i) 1m33.392s 86.69mph


Anthony Reid (MG ZS) 1m28.115s 91.88mph
Paul O'Neill (Vauxhall Astra Coupe)1m28.145s 91.85mph
Aaron Slight (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 1m28.248s 91.74mph
Warren Hughes (MG ZS) 1m28.290s 91.70mph
James Thompson (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 1m28.483s 91.50mph
Alan Morrison (Honda Civic Type-R) 1m28.532s 91.45mph
Matt Neal (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 1m28.536s 91.44mph
Gareth Howell (MG ZS) 1m28.558s 91.42mph
Dan Eaves (Peugeot 406 Coupe) 1m28.578s 91.40mph
Colin Turkington (MG ZS) 1m28.586s 91.39mph


Kelvin Burt (Alfa Romeo 156) 1m32.671s 87.36mph
James Kaye (Honda Civic Type-R) 1m33.326s 86.75mph
Alan Blencowe (Alfa Romeo 156) 1m33.425s 86.66mph