In only its second weekend in the series, Jason Plato has taken the first pole position for the new MG6 in qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park this afternoon.
Click here for the full Round 4 qualifying results.
Plato set the time early in the session and, with the threat of rain looming, moved quickly to the top of the times. As the session went on the spits of rain soon increased and few drivers were able to significantly better their times, leaving Plato to take his first pole position of the season. It is also the first pole position for an MG since Anthony Reid took pole at Knockhill in 2004.
Honda’s Gordon Shedden will line up alongside Plato on the front row of the grid for the first of tomorrow’s races, with team-mate Matt Neal starting just behind him in third. Andrew Jordan again ensured that there were three new Civics in the top four by taking his Pirtek Motorsport car to fourth.
Rob Collard will start from fifth after hacing put in a rapid late lap in the session. He has fellow S2000-chassis racer Mat Jackson alongside him.
Continuing his impressive form from the first meeting of the season was Dave Newsham, who secured seventh on the grid. Newsham had been outside of the top ten for the first half of the session before upping his pace in the second half, despite the conditions.
Rob Austin qualified in eighth – one place lower than last time out at Brands – in his Audi A4. Austin completed the fewest laps of all of the top drivers and thus slipped down the order as the session went on.
The two unrelated Smiths – Jeff and Árón completed the top ten in their Honda Civic and Ford Focus ST respectively.
Frank Wrathall and Tom Onslow-Cole just missed out on the top ten and will start from 11th and 12th respectively.
The damp conditions caught out Adam Morgan (20th), who suffered another spin, this time at Redgate corner. This caused a momentary stoppage of the session as his Toyota Avensis was removed from the gravel. Chris James (15th) also suffered a spin coming onto the start straight.
In contrast to Plato’s elation, team-mate Andy Neate had a disastrous qualifying session and failed to post a competitive time after the differential on his car broke. He will therefore start from 23rd for the first race tomorrow.
Race one is at 1137 GMT tomorrow (Sunday 15th April).