SEAT lock front row at Knockhill

Both Plato and Turner ran a mixture of slick tyres on the front and wets on the back to displace long-time leader Gordon Shedden on their final qualifying laps.

Plato set a time of 57.467 seconds to eclipse his teammate by over one-tenth of a second and claim a vital bonus point for pole position which closes the gap to championship leader Matt Neal to 39 points.

"It was quite tricky because no-one knew how quick the track should be on slicks," said Plato. "There was good grip out there, it was just a matter of time. It was a good lap, although there was just one mistake, but it was only a small one. It's a great result for the team, especially with Darren being second."

Turner was delighted with his front-row position on his third appearance of the season in place of the World Touring Car Championship-tied James Thompson.

"It's great to get first and second, especially with Jason getting that extra point," he said. "You never know, come the end of the season that could be crucial."

Fabrizio Giovanardi was another to set his best time in the dying moments of the session, putting his Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch third on the grid on his maiden visit to Knockhill. The Italian was comfortably the best of the Vauxhalls, with teammates Tom Chilton 10th and Gavin Smith 13th.

Local Shedden ended up fourth ahead of the Honda Integra-R of fellow Team Dynamics racer Matt Neal. Although Neal would be disappointed with fifth, he will start one place ahead of closest title challenger Colin Turkington, whose RAC-backed WSR-run MG ZS has newly been equipped to run bio-ethanol E85 fuel. Rob Collard, in the second WSR MG, will start ninth.

Gareth Howell, who claimed pole at Knockhill on his BTCC comeback last season, will start seventh. He will share the fourth row with James Kaye, who lost time during practice with electrical problems on his Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R.

Several drivers hit problems during the session. Mark Proctor will start 11th despite going off at the hairpin earlier in the session and bringing out the red flag.

However, he fared batter than independent Mike Jordan. The Honda Integra-R driver had run as high as fourth during the session, but alternator problems meant that he twice had his times disallowed as he could not restart his car on the weighbridge. As a result of the penalties, Jordan will start 12th.

Pos  Driver               Car                         Time
 1.  Jason Plato          SEAT Leon                   57.467     
 2.  Darren Turner        SEAT Leon                   57.607 +  0.140   
 3.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch  57.677 +  0.210   
 4.  Gordon Shedden       Honda Integra               57.720 +  0.253   
 5.  Matt Neal            Honda Integra               57.833 +  0.366   
 6.  Colin Turkington     MG ZS                       58.223 +  0.756   
 7.  Gareth Howell        Honda Integra               58.305 +  0.838   
 8.  James Kaye           Honda Civic Type R          58.327 +  0.860   
 9.  Robert Collard       MG ZS                       58.352 +  0.885   
10.  Tom Chilton          Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch  58.354 +  0.887   
11.  Mark Proctor         Honda Civic Type R          58.383 +  0.916   
12.  Mike Jordan          Honda Integra               58.383 +  0.916   
13.  Gavin Smith          Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch  58.517 +  1.050   
14.  Jason Hughes         MG ZS                       59.052 +  1.585   
15.  David Pinkney        Honda Integra               59.327 +  1.860   
16.  Martyn Bell          BMW 320i E46                59.790 +  2.323