Reid does it again
Anthony Reid topped the BTCC qualifying times for the second meeting on the trot in a tight tense session at Knockhill which ended with a major shunt between James Thompson and Matt Neal which may keep Thompson out of tomorrow's (Sunday) races and so deliver a serious blow to his championship hopes
Reid was delighted with his pole in the independently-run WSR MG ZS. "We're getting into the groove with this car now," said the Scot, "but I really had to work my nuts off for this. It's unbelievably close at the front."
Reid held pole for the early part of the session before his time was bettered by both his team-mate Colin Turkington and Honda's Tom Chilton. Reid made another run and retook the top spot, with Chilton winding up second from Turkington and Thompson - the top four separated by just 0.090s.
Thompson's last ditch bid for pole ended in disaster though. The Yorkshireman's Astra started to misfire and eventually blew up at the dramatic Glenvarigill Chicane. He'd pulled off to one side when Neal came over the brow - where the cars take off over a kerb - hit the oil and spun into the back of the Astra, which lost all its bodywork behind the back wheels in a heavy impact.
Both drivers were shaken, but basically unhurt. Their teams though will face a race against time to fix the cars for tomorrow's three races. Vauxhall Team boss Ian Harrison rates the chances of successfully repairing the Thompson Astra in time as "marginal". Neal's team is rather more optimistic about the Civic.
Thompson lies second in the points three behind team-mate Yvan Muller. The Frenchman was however only ninth quickest today, despite taking the prize for the longest time spend high on two-wheels at Duffus Dip. Muller qualified just one place ahead of fellow former champion and bitter rival Jason Plato. Both will be intent on securing ninth or 10th place in race one tomorrow - to secure a front row spot in the second race.
Neal had set the seventh best time, just 0.349s off the pole time, but separated from the top four by his own team-mate Dan Eaves and SEAT's Robert Huff.
Anthony Reid MG 54.676s
Tom Chilton Honda 54.712s
Colin Turkington MG 54.732s
James Thompson Vauxhall 54.766s
Rob Huff SEAT 54.812s
Dan Eaves Honda 54.933s
Matt Neal Honda 55.025s
Luke Hines Vauxhall 55.067s
Yvan Muller Vauxhall 55.071s
Jason Plato SEAT 55.185s
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