Jason Plato secured his third pole position of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship season in a closely fought session at Silverstone, ahead of championship leader Colin Turkington and Sam Tordoff.
In truth, Plato always looked favourite to claim pole in the delayed half-hour-long session, but given his points deficit to Turkington in the championship, he might have hoped that the eBay Motors driver would not be the next car behind him on the grid.
There was drama before any of the drivers had had a chance to set a timed lap, as Dave Newsham dropped his AmD Tuning Ford Focus on his out-lap and was forced to sit out the remainder of the session having damaged his front-end.
In a hectic start to the session, the rear-wheel drive cars of West Surrey Racing and Rob Austin in his Audi traded spells at the top of the times as they lowered the pace below the one-minute barrier, before Plato joined in on the action and immediately started lapping quicker, posting his pole-winning time of 58.511s on his fourth lap, with the session not yet ten minutes old.
But while Plato’s pole was decided relatively early on in the session – the fact that he completed 21 laps would suggest that he had time left to chip away should anyone take his pole – there was plenty of action left in the session. Andrew Jordan had a big sideways moment at Brooklands, while shortly afterwards the remaining MGs of Tordoff and Marc Hynes had their fastest laps deleted for exceeding track limits (although both retained their respective third and tenth positions).
Aside from the MGs at the front, the Airwaves Racing team had expected something of an upturn in form ahead of the weekend, and Mat Jackson hauled his Ford Focus into second with an off-the-radar lap as the session approached its halfway point.
The BMR Restart team had also shown plenty of promise in the two preceding practice sessions, and Aron Smith and Alain Menu stated their intent to get in on the action as they moved into third (58.653s) and fifth (58.745s) respectively.
But with a third of the session remaining, championship leader Turkington ensured that he goes into tomorrow’s race with a good opportunity to clinch the title as he first went sixth, before falling just short of Plato’s fastest time to slot into second on a 58.575, 0.003s ahead of Tordoff.
Jackson’s effort meant that he was the third driver to qualify within a tenth of Plato at the front, while Smith and Menu’s times were eventually good enough for fifth and sixth. Tom Ingram reinforced his credentials as a star of the future with a fine seventh place, ahead of late improver Hynes, Adam Morgan and Austin.
Jack Clarke also enjoyed his most competitive qualifying session of the year in 12th, while Aiden Moffat 18th birthday will be marked by a points-paying grid slot after he hauled his Chevrolet Cruze into 15th, ahead of the ailing Hondas of Andrew Jordan, Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal.
Luke Hines will start his first race in the championship since 2005 from 26th, as he qualified 1.388s off the pace.
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO |  |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 21 | 58.511 | |
| 2 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 22 | 58.575 | 0.064 |
| 3 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 20 | 58.578 | 0.067 |
| 4 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 58.602 | 0.091 |
| 5 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 22 | 58.653 | 0.142 |
| 6 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 22 | 58.745 | 0.234 |
| 7 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 58.798 | 0.287 |
| 8 | 888 | I | Marc HYNES | |
Quantel Bifold Racing | MG6 | 20 | 58.825 | 0.314 |
| 9 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 22 | 58.832 | 0.321 |
| 10 | 101 | I | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet Racing | Audi A4 | 25 | 58.891 | 0.380 |