Gordon Shedden has taken his second pole position in a row and the eigth of his career at Oulton Park this afternoon. Shedden was 0.150 seconds faster than team-mate Matt Neal as the Honda’s continued their dominance during qualifying in 2011. A surprise third went to Andy Neate in a career-best qualifying session for the Team Aon driver.
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In a continuation of their dominance in the earlier practice sessions, both Honda Racing drivers were able to lock out the front row of the grid for the second time this year. However the real shock of the session was the performance of Neate in third.
Prior to this Neate’s best-ever qualifying position was 10th at the 2011 season opener at Brands Hatch. But a superb lap early on in the session means that he will start from the second row – and was two tenths quicker than his team-mate to boot.
Lining up alongside Neate in fourth on the grid is Jason Plato, who as the top normally-aspirated driver was 0.427 seconds off the pace.
Andrew Jordan will line up in fifth for the first of tomorrow’s races, with Tom Chilton sixth having been outqualified by his team-mate for the first time this year.
Seventh is Alex MacDowall – although the Chevrolet driver had a big off towards the end of the session. MacDowall was sent backwards into the barriers on the exit of Druids corner after having apparently suffered a failure in the rear suspension.
Paul O’Neill qualified his independent Chevrolet Cruze in eighth position – his strongest qualifying performance of 2011.
James Nash, struggling with the set-up of his car and the 27kg of success ballast that he has to carry, was ninth fastest, whilst Mat Jackson was tenth for Airwaves Racing. Jackson had earlier suffered damage after his team-mate Liam Griffin hit a kerb hard and dropped oil on the track. A number of drivers were caught out, and the session was red flagged early as a result.
Despite showing good top-ten pace in the practice sessions earlier, Rob Collard could only manage 14th. The WSR driver had been enjoying a strong day until qualifying and will be hoping to make up positions at the start of tomorrow’s first race as a result of the relaxation of the BMW’s first gear penalty.
Frank Wrathall qualified a career-best 18th position in his Dynojet Toyota Avensis. However there was frustration further back as AmD Milltek Racing’s Tom Onslow-Cole suffered one of the worst qualifying sessions of his BTCC career. The 24-year-old had been struggling all day with handling issues and will be hoping for improved form in tomorrow’s races.