Jason Plato scored his first British Touring Car Championship pole position of the season at Donington Park, smashing the lap record to beat Gordon Shedden and Sam Tordoff to the top time.
MG’s Plato posted the fastest lap of the session within the first half of the session, easily smashing the previous qualifying lap record set in 2011. Honda’s Gordon Shedden was second fastest, just over a tenth behind.
The session followed the standard precedent as the rear-wheel powered cars stayed out to trade fastest laps, with Colin Turkington and Hunter Abbott the first to hit the front.
Following up his pace from second practice, birthday boy Sam Tordoff sprinted straight to the front, dipping into the 1:09s ahead of Plato and Hynes in the other MG cars.
But Plato, who had been bullish going into the session about his and his team’s chances of claiming pole, didn’t disappoint as he eclipsed teammate Tordoff’s early benchmark while also beating Shedden, who couldn’t match his rival despite improving his time.
Colin Turkington continued to shine in his eBay Motors BMW, as he claimed fourth – a result that should see him in contention for victories tomorrow afternoon, with his car expected to be better over a race distance.
Aron Smith wasn’t quite able to replicate his pace from earlier in the day, but he and teammate Alain Menu continued to push each other in their Passats, with the former eventually setting the fifth fastest time to beat the Swiss into sixth.
Andrew Jordan salvaged seventh with his well-ballasted Pirtek Civic, and was lucky not to be collected by Warren Scott after the Insignia driver had an off before rejoining in front of the champion.
Jack Goff continued his progress with an understated eighth, ahead of Matt Neal in the second Civic Tourer and Marc Hynes, who wasn’t able to match his teammates but nonetheless claimed his first top ten qualifying slot.
Adam Morgan had been set for a spectacular top five result before his WIX Racing Mercedes had its times removed for failing a ride height test. He returned to the track with seven minutes remaining to try and claw back his position, but he left his braking too late into Redgate and had to abandon his effort, ending up in 17th place.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST |
| 1 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO |  |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 17 | 1:09.460 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 17 | 1:09.591 | 0.131 |
| 3 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 14 | 1:09.696 | 0.236 |
| 4 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 20 | 1:09.746 | 0.286 |
| 5 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 19 | 1:09.819 | 0.359 |
| 6 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 17 | 1:09.864 | 0.404 |
| 7 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 18 | 1:09.943 | 0.483 |
| 8 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Vauxhall Insignia | 20 | 1:09.996 | 0.536 |
| 9 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 19 | 1:10.043 | 0.583 |
| 10 | 888 | M | Marc HYNES | |
Quantel Bifold Racing | MG6 | 16 | 1:10.045 | 0.585 |