Turner takes Knockhill pole

In a closely-fought dry qualifying session, the SEAT driver just pipped Team RAC's Colin Turkington by 0.174 seconds. Local hero, Team Dynamics' Gordon Shedden, came third.

The session was red flagged for over 15 minutes after a number of incidents.

Series newcomer Alan Taylor had a coming together with Vauxhall's Tom Chilton in the first sector, putting both the Integra and the Vectra out on the spot.

Meanwhile, John George and Chris Stockton both pulled over with technical issues.

Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi - who are battling it out for the title with just six races left - finished in fourth and fifth positions respectively, despite Plato suffering a spin.

The track is expected to suit the SEAT more than the Vauxhall, and Turner said that in a situation where he is ahead of his teammate, he will move over to allow Plato past to score as many points as possible, providing it would not harm SEAT's teams' and manufacturers' title chances.

Mike Jordan was top of the BTC-spec runners in sixth place, with Chilton's early flier meaning he salvaged seventh, despite not seeing out the session.

Matt Neal finished a disappointing ninth, his team having worked wonders to build a brand new Honda Civic in only ten days after his previous car was written off during the huge race one shunt at Brands Hatch a fortnight ago.

Pos  Driver            Make        Time
 1.  Darren Turner     SEAT        53.007  
 2.  Colin Turkington  BMW         53.181 + 0.174
 3.  Gordon Shedden    Honda       53.224 + 0.217
 4.  Jason Plato       SEAT        53.385 + 0.378
 5.  F.Giovanardi      Vauxhall    53.600 + 0.593
 6.  Mike Jordan       Honda       53.665 + 0.658
 7.  Tom Chilton       Vauxhall    53.730 + 0.723
 8.  Tom Onslow-Cole   BMW         53.775 + 0.768
 9.  Matt Neal         Honda       53.806 + 0.799
10.  Gavin Smith       SEAT        53.855 + 0.848
11.  Adam Jones        SEAT        53.868 + 0.861
12.  Mat Jackson       BMW         54.209 + 1.202
13.  Jason Hughes      MG          54.925 + 1.918
14.  Chris Stockton    Lexus       55.143 + 2.136
15.  Martyn Bell       BMW         55.456 + 2.449
16.  Fiona Leggate     MG          55.772 + 2.765
17.  John George       Honda     1:01.519 + 8.512
18.  Alan Taylor       Honda     1:02.791 + 9.784