Rydell on pole for Snetterton feature race

Torrential rain just before qualifying meant a very wet track, which dried through the half-hour session, before the heavens opened again just after the chequered flag. Rydell grabbed pole at the last gasp, on his last lap.

"I'm pleased," said the Swede. "Each one of my last four or five laps could have been quicker, but I was held up by spinners or slower cars. I was hoping for just one more lap, and I started my last lap just four or five seconds before the flag came out, so it was a bit late, but good timing."

Jason Plato almost joined Rydell on the front row, after setting the third fastest time of the session. The second fastest time went to Alain Menu, but the Swiss driver's Mondeo failed the ride-height test after the session. However, Ford successfully argued their case for Menu's time to be re-instated.

"I had to go straight on at the Esses," explained Menu, "and it bounced down hard, so I think it should be OK, because that damaged the splitter."

Plato reckoned he didn't quite manage to catch the peak of his tyres performance, when the track was clear. "It's the same for everyone, but that's quite good," said the Englishman.

Anthony Reid was next up, despite two spins at the Esses. "The car was never as good after the first spin, so I must have knocked something out. I was fastest at the time, and pole was definitely on."

Alan Morrison was comfortably the quickest of the Class B runners, while Matt Neal is the lone Independent as Colin Blair's Nissan is not yet repaired after its Croft testing crash.



1 Rickard Rydell (Ford Mondeo) 1m17.508s
2 Alain Menu (Ford Mondeo) 1m17.795s
3 Jason Plato (Vauxhall Vectra) 1m17.882s
4 Anthony Reid (Ford Mondeo) 1m17.980s
5 Yvan Muller (Vauxhall Vectra) 1m17.987s
6 James Thompson (Honda Accord) 1m18.018s
7 Tom Kristensen (Honda Accord) 1m18.114s
8 Gabriele Tarquini (Honda Accord) 1m18.151s
9 Vincent Radermecker (Vauxhall Vectra) 1m18.242s
10 Matt Neal (Nissan Primera) 1m18.765s
11 Alan Morrison (Peugeot 306 -B) 1m28.627s