Rockingham BTCC: MG's Sam Tordoff takes dominant pole

The MG youngster, who had set the pace in the first practice session, outpaced team-mate Jason Plato on their first runs by one-tenth of a second but was almost half a second quicker next time round as the MG6s circulated in tandem.

As in practice, the gaps behind the lead MG were mostly measurable in hundredths and thousandths rather than tenths.

Alain Menu's BMR Volkswagen CC headed the chase initially, but he faded as the session wore on and others came to the fore.

Tordoff and Plato - who has avoided a grid penalty for the first race - had also set their times early in the session and did not improve later on, allowing championship leader Colin Turkington to split them with a late flier.

The 2009 champion first moved in to third, then was one of three drivers - the others being Chris Stockton and Warren Scott - to spin on oil dropped by Ollie Jackson's expiring Welch Proton.

He returned to the pits, and though the WSR BMW driver's best lap was not perfect when he emerged again - courtesy of a lock up under braking for the Tarzan hairpin - it was still good enough to edge championship rival Plato for a spot on the front row by just 0.012 seconds.

Gordon Shedden lingered near the foot of the top 10 for the majority of the session but put his Honda Civic Tourer on the second row alongside Plato after twice improving in the final 10 minutes, with Andrew Jordan's hatchback Civic just 0.073s behind in fifth.

Adam Morgan secured the best qualifying result of his Ciceley Motorsport team's Mercedes A-Class's debut season in sixth, while one place back ex-British Formula 3 champion Marc Hynes claimed his own BTCC-best starting position to add to the Triple Eight-run MG squad's joy.

Menu dropped to eighth by the session's end, but still fared better than the second Dynamics-run estate of Matt Neal, who only managed ninth.

He will share the fifth row with the Motorbase Ford Focus of Knockhill race winner Mat Jackson.

Pos Driver              Car                 Time       Gap    
 1. Sam Tordoff         MG                  1m22.471s         
 2. Colin Turkington    WSR BMW             1m22.955s  +0.484s
 3. Jason Plato         MG                  1m22.967s  +0.496s
 4. Gordon Shedden      Honda               1m23.124s  +0.653s
 5. Andrew Jordan       Eurotech Honda      1m23.197s  +0.726s
 6. Adam Morgan         Ciceley Mercedes    1m23.251s  +0.780s
 7. Marc Hynes          MG                  1m23.265s  +0.794s
 8. Alain Menu          BMR VW              1m23.280s  +0.809s
 9. Matt Neal           Honda               1m23.360s  +0.889s
10. Mat Jackson         Motorbase Ford      1m23.396s  +0.925s
11. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford      1m23.419s  +0.948s
12. Tom Ingram          Speedworks Toyota   1m23.422s  +0.951s
13. Rob Austin          RAR Audi            1m23.578s  +1.107s
14. Aron Smith          BMR VW              1m23.642s  +1.171s
15. Nick Foster         WSR BMW             1m23.718s  +1.247s
16. Rob Collard         WSR BMW             1m23.960s  +1.489s
17. Jack Goff           BMR VW              1m24.018s  +1.547s
18. Warren Scott        BMR VW              1m24.019s  +1.548s
19. Jack Clarke         Motorbase Ford      1m24.035s  +1.564s
20. Dave Newsham        AmD Ford            1m24.113s  +1.642s
21. Aiden Moffat        Moffat Chevrolet    1m24.115s  +1.644s
22. Lea Wood            Houseman Toyota     1m24.130s  +1.659s
23. James Cole          UA Toyota           1m24.195s  +1.724s
24. Robb Holland        Rotek Audi          1m24.366s  +1.895s
25. Glynn Geddie        UA Toyota           1m24.449s  +1.978s
26. Martin Depper       Eurotech Honda      1m24.661s  +2.190s
27. Simon Belcher       Handy Toyota        1m24.797s  +2.326s
28. Chris Stockton      BTC Chevrolet       1m24.902s  +1.947s
29. Dan Welch           Welch Proton        1m26.015s  +3.544s
30. Ollie Jackson       Welch Proton        1m26.284s  +3.813s
31. Hunter Abbott       RAR Audi            1m26.428s  +3.957s