Thompson takes pole at Croft

The World Touring Car Championship ace's lap of 1:26.252 displaced the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch of long-time session topper Tom Chilton by just 0.039 seconds. It was Thompson's second pole position of the BTCC season.

BTCC points leader Matt Neal was a disappointed third on the grid, albeit just 0.060 seconds down on Thompson. The Team Dynamics Honda Integra-R driver hit out at BTCC newcomer Eoin Murray, who he claimed baulked him on two of his qualifying attempts.

"I said before the meeting that I'd be happy with third, but with the car being as good as it is we could have been better," he said. "It's a missed opportunity because Murray just got in my way twice."

Former BTCC champion Jason Plato will share the second row of the grid with Neal, one place ahead of the second Integra of Shedden.

Former European Touring Car champion Fabrizio Giovanardi managed sixth, just 0.167 seconds off the pace, on his first visit to the North Yorkshire circuit, ahead of the WSR MG of Colin Turkington. Both Turkington and team-mate Rob Collard, who will start ninth, struggled with set-up in the warm qualifying session after setting an impressive pace in testing.

Eighth place, splitting the MGs, went to Mike Jordan, who overcame gear selection problems early in the session to lap just 0.304 seconds off pole. Gavin Smith, driving the third Sport Hatch, completed the top ten.

Murray, making his BTCC debut driving a Team Quest-run Alfa Romeo 156, qualified an impressive 14th, 1.743 seconds off the pace, with fellow debutant Erkut Kizilirmak 17th in the fourth works Astra.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver               Make                Time
 1.  James Thompson       SEAT Leon       1:26.213    
 2.  Tom Chilton          Vauxhall Astra  1:26.252  + 0.039
 3.  Matt Neal            Honda Integra   1:26.273  + 0.060
 4.  Jason Plato          SEAT Leon       1:26.340  + 0.127
 5.  Gordon Shedden       Honda Integra   1:26.380  + 0.167
 6.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall Astra  1:26.380  + 0.167
 7.  Colin Turkington     MG ZS           1:26.499  + 0.286
 8.  Mike Jordan          Honda Integra   1:26.517  + 0.304
 9.  Robert Collard       MG ZS           1:26.800  + 0.587
10.  Gavin Smith          Vauxhall Astra  1:26.845  + 0.632
11.  David Pinkney        Honda Integra   1:27.141  + 0.928
12.  James Kaye           Honda Civic     1:27.574  + 1.361
13.  Jason Hughes         MG ZS           1:27.745  + 1.532
14.  Eoin Murray          Alfa Romeo 156  1:27.956  + 1.743
15.  Mark Proctor         Honda Civic     1:27.984  + 1.771
16.  Fiona Leggate        Vauxhall Astra  1:28.565  + 2.352
17.  Erkut Kizilirmak     Vauxhall Astra  1:29.296  + 3.083
18.  Adam Jones           Lexus IS200     1:29.337  + 3.124
19.  Martyn Bell          BMW 320i E46    1:30.094  + 3.881
20.  Mark Smith           Alfa Romeo 156  1:31.077  + 4.864