Second pole position for Aiello at Oulton Park

The Nissan Primera driver went last, and came out on top around the Oulton Park Fosters circuit.

His team-mate David Leslie pushed him close, getting to within four thousandths of a second, and will start alongside Aiello in both of tomorrow's races.

Alain Menu and Anthony Reid confirmed that the Prodrive Ford Mondeo squad is a force to be reckoned with, qualifying third and fourth, although they were 0.2s away from Aiello's pace.

By contrast to the earlier session, when conditions varied between damp and wet, the Showdown saw every driver getting a completely dry track - although that didn't stop several drivers getting distinctly out of shape at the tricky, downhill Cascades bend.

The changed conditions were due to the huge shunt by Russell Spence at the end of the Feature qualifying session.

The Independent driver slid off at Lodge corner in his Renault Laguna, causing enough damage to the car to put him out for the weekend.

He also did serious damage to the barriers, causing qualifying for all races to be put back by almost two hours.

That delay meant that the weather had improved greatly by the time the BTCC cars got out again.

Again Matt Neal was the fastest Independent. However, the Nissan Primera driver finished further back than usual, unable to better tenth spot

Mark Blair was fourteenth in his Vauxhall Vectra; Paula Cook will start from the back of the grid after her Honda Accord failed the ride-height check.