Snetterton BTCC: Jason Plato claims pole, Andrew Jordan sidelined

Triple Eight MG driver Plato, who admitted he needs a big score at Snetterton to keep his title challenge alive, set a time of 1m56.495s early in the session.

Plato failed to improve with his later run, but he remained well clear of the rest, with championship leader Colin Turkington being the only other driver under 1m57s with a late effort in his WSR BMW.

The fight behind was tighter; a little over 0.5 seconds covered third to 10th. The second MG6 of Sam Tordoff led the chasing pack.

Matt Neal was the leading Honda contender in fourth, while Alain Menu was another late improver and ended up fifth in his BMR Volkswagen Passat.

Tom Ingram continued his fine rookie campaign with sixth in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis, just ahead of the second BMR Passat of Oulton Park race winner Aron Smith.

Adam Morgan's Ciceley Mercedes was next, while Mat Jackson led the Motorbase Ford Focus charge in ninth.

Jack Goff made it three VWs in the top 10, on his first race weekend after switching from the Vauxhall Insignia.

Despite a tow from Honda team-mate Neal, title contender Gordon Shedden could only manage 11th in his Civic Tourer, but he fared better than Eurotech Honda driver Jordan.

The reigning champion is expecting to start from the back of the grid in race one on Sunday after his free practice crash. Jordan was not given clearance from the BTCC's medical team to take part in qualifying.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car           Time       Gap    
 1.  Jason Plato          MG                 1m56.495s         
 2.  Colin Turkington     WSR BMW            1m56.910s  +0.415s
 3.  Sam Tordoff          MG                 1m57.254s  +0.759s
 4.  Matt Neal            Honda              1m57.281s  +0.786s
 5.  Alain Menu           BMR VW             1m57.291s  +0.796s
 6.  Tom Ingram           Speedworks Toyota  1m57.576s  +1.081s
 7.  Aron Smith           BMR VW             1m57.708s  +1.213s
 8.  Adam Morgan          Ciceley Mercedes   1m57.746s  +1.251s
 9.  Mat Jackson          Motorbase Ford     1m57.746s  +1.251s
10.  Jack Goff            BMR VW             1m57.757s  +1.262s
11.  Gordon Shedden       Honda              1m58.030s  +1.535s
12.  Marc Hynes           MG                 1m58.054s  +1.559s
13.  Rob Austin           RAR Audi           1m58.241s  +1.746s
14.  Dave Newsham         AmD Ford           1m58.291s  +1.796s
15.  Glynn Geddie         UA Toyota          1m58.356s  +1.861s
16.  Nick Foster          WSR BMW            1m58.465s  +1.970s
17.  Warren Scott         BMR VW             1m58.504s  +2.009s
18.  Lea Wood             Houseman Toyota    1m58.513s  +2.018s
19.  Rob Collard          WSR BMW            1m58.661s  +2.166s
20.  Aiden Moffat         Moffat Chevrolet   1m58.799s  +2.304s
21.  Jack Clarke          Motorbase Ford     1m58.822s  +2.327s
22.  Martin Depper        Eurotech Honda     1m58.956s  +2.461s
23.  Robb Holland         Rotek Audi         1m59.068s  +2.573s
24.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Motorbase Ford     1m59.245s  +2.750s
25.  James Cole           UA Toyota          1m59.318s  +2.823s
26.  Hunter Abbott        RAR Audi           1m59.350s  +2.855s
27.  Dan Welch            Welch Proton       2m01.057s  +4.562s
28.  Simon Belcher        Handy Toyota       2m01.153s  +4.658s
29.  Chris Stockton       BTC Chevrolet      2m01.334s  +4.839s
30.  Ollie Jackson        Welch Proton       2m02.638s  +6.143s