MG’s Jason Plato took pole position for the first British Touring Car Championship race at Rockingham Motor Speedway, as MG finished 1-2 with Sam Tordoff finishing second fastest.
Click here for the full Round 22 qualifying times.
Plato took his 40th career pole position in the BTCC with five minutes remaining of the half-hour session, as he posted a time of 1:22.350 to go two tenths faster than team-mate Tordoff.
Rob Austin was an impressive third fastest in the WIX Racing Audi, just three weeks after having scored his maiden pole at Knockhill. Andrew Jordan headed a quartet of Honda’s in fourth, beating both of the works’ cars in his Pirtek Racing Civic.
Gordon Shedden was fifth fastest for Honda Yuasa Racing, ahead of the second Pirtek car of Jeff Smith in sixth who performed well upon his return to the series, having missed Knockhill due to business commitments. Championship leader Matt Neal was last of the Honda’s in seventh, just under half a second off the pace.
Dave Newsham was the top Toyota driver in eighth, ahead of the top BMW driver of Colin Turkington in ninth, despite the Northern Irishman having been top of the times early on in the session.
Will Bratt completed the top ten for Rob Austin Racing, securing his best-ever qualifying result in the BTCC and making it the first time that both of Rob Austin’s Audi’s have qualified inside the top ten.
Mat Jackson ended the session as the top Airwaves Racing driver in 12th, whilst Tom Onslow-Cole qualified in 18th on his first race with the team, one position behind regular driver Árón Smith.
Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan endured his worst qualifying session of the season so far (indeed his worst since Oulton Park in 2012) as he struggled for pace in his Toyota.
Lea Wood was the top driver in the Jack Sears Trophy in 24th, ahead of Liam Griffin and David Nye.
Débutant Andy Wilmot qualified amongst the S2000 drivers in a lowly 26th on his first appearance in the series, more than 3.5 seconds off the pace in the Team HARD Volkswagen Passat CC.
The session was briefly red-flagged after 21 minutes when Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall went off into the gravel. Wrathall qualified in 19th, unable to complete the remainder of the session.
Round 22 takes place at 11:27 BST on Sunday (12:27 CEST).