SEAT sweep Snetterton front row

Jason Plato, who retains a slender chance of challenging for a second BTCC title despite a disastrous weekend at Donington Park last time out, led World Touring Car Championship-leading team-mate James Thompson by less than one-tenth of a second to lock out the front row for the marque.

Plato set his time with over 20 minutes left in the session, and with changeable conditions forcing the majority of competitors to run with compromised set-ups for possible wet weather, no-one was able to challenge his supremacy.

Fabrizio Giovanardi was best of the rest with third on the grid for Vauxhall, ahead of Team Dynamics pairing Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal.

One place behind Neal on the grid is WSR's Colin Turkington, who is the defending champion's nearest challenger in the title race.

Gavin Smith and Tom Chilton annexed the fourth row for Vauxhall, with Team Eurotech's Mike Jordan and the second WSR MG ZS of Rob Collard rounding out the top ten.

Gareth Howell, making his seasonal BTCC debut in a third Dynamics Honda Integra-R, could manage only 11th on the grid. However, he started free practice on Saturday morning with 45kg of ballast as a late entry and without any time in the car since the end of last season.

Also returning to the championship for one last outing was Mark Proctor, who qualified 14th in his Honda Civic Type-R.

Richard Marsh has been forced to withdraw his Team Farecla Peugeot 307 with engine problems, reducing the grid to 20 following Xero Competition's withdrawal of their Lexus IS200 ahead of the meeting.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver               Make                Time
 1.  Jason Plato          SEAT Leon       1:11.793
 2.  James Thompson       SEAT Leon       1:11.854  + 0.061
 3.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall Astra  1:12.107  + 0.314
 4.  Gordon Shedden       Honda Integra   1:12.109  + 0.316
 5.  Matt Neal            Honda Integra   1:12.156  + 0.363
 6.  Colin Turkington     MG ZS           1:12.321  + 0.528
 7.  Gavin Smith          Vauxhall Astra  1:12.352  + 0.559
 8.  Tom Chilton          Vauxhall Astra  1:12.359  + 0.566
 9.  Mike Jordan          Honda Integra   1:12.359  + 0.566
10.  Robert Collard       MG ZS           1:12.566  + 0.773
11.  Gareth Howell        Honda Integra   1:12.567  + 0.774
12.  James Kaye           Honda Civic     1:12.652  + 0.859
13.  Eoin Murray          Alfa Romeo 156  1:12.944  + 1.151
14.  Mark Proctor         Honda Civic     1:13.012  + 1.219
15.  Jason Hughes         MG ZS           1:13.170  + 1.377
16.  Fiona Leggate        Vauxhall Astra  1:14.168  + 2.375
17.  Martyn Bell          BMW 320i E46    1:14.899  + 3.106
18.  Erkut Kizilirmak     Vauxhall Astra  1:15.891  + 4.098
19.  Richard Marsh        Peugeot 307     1:16.824  + 5.031
20.  Mark Smith           Alfa Romeo 156  1:17.525  + 5.732