Colin Turkington has claimed pole position for Round 13 of the British Touring Car Championship at Croft tomorrow [19th June], setting a fastest lap time of 1:23.608 around the 2.13 mile circuit in the Subaru Levorg.
Alongside Turkington on the front row is Daniel Lloyd as the impressive BTCC returnee continues to put in strong performances behind the wheel of the Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type-R. Ashley Sutton rounded out the top three ahead of Turkington’s Subaru team-mate, Jason Plato, and championship leader Sam Tordoff.
Disaster struck for Tordoff’s Team JCT600 with GardX team-mate Rob Collard, who clashed with Matt Neal in the first sector at half-distance, resulting in a red flag stoppage as both the BMW 125i M-Sport and the Halfords-backed Type-R were recovered by marshals. They ended the session 16th and 17th respectively as the times tumbled after the action restarted.
The contact appeared to be a ‘racing incident’ of sorts, as Neal came alongside Collard on the inside line through Hawthorns on a flying lap. Collard moved across to the outside line but Neal tagged the front-right of the BMW on his way through, seemingly expecting Collard to leave a larger gap. As a result, he spun out of the session with a broken left-rear suspension.
Defending champion Gordon Shedden completed a frustrating session for Halfords Yuasa Racing as he could only manage 14th, some 0.825 seconds behind pole-sitter Turkington.
The dramas continued further down the field as cold tyre temperatures caused Andrew Jordan, Adam Morgan, Jeff Smith, Ashley Sutton and Jason Plato to exit the circuit at intervals.
Hunter Abbott put in his best ever qualifying performance to slot the Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze into 7th, whilst Jake Hill continued to impress by qualifying 11th after having run 2nd earlier in the thirty-minute session.
The talk before the session had been of a BMW vs Subaru battle for pole position, but the addition of several of the headlining front-wheel drive runners into the mix makes for an intriguing first contest tomorrow, which gets underway at 12:02.
Qualifying times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:23.608 | |
| 2 | 23 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:24.005 | 0.397 | |
| 3 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 12 | 1:24.008 | 0.400 |
| 4 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:24.020 | 0.412 |
| 5 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:24.053 | 0.445 |
| 6 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:24.068 | 0.460 |
| 7 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 13 | 1:24.071 | 0.463 | |
| 8 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 15 | 1:24.184 | 0.576 | |
| 9 | 7 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 14 | 1:24.229 | 0.621 | |
| 10 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 11 | 1:24.253 | 0.645 | |
| 11 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 13 | 1:24.289 | 0.681 | |
| 12 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:24.311 | 0.703 | |
| 13 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 1:24.381 | 0.773 | |
| 14 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:24.433 | 0.825 |
| 15 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 1:24.457 | 0.849 | |
| 16 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 6 | 1:24.471 | 0.863 |
| 17 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | 1:24.523 | 0.915 |
| 18 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 14 | 1:24.663 | 1.055 |
| 19 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:24.669 | 1.061 | |
| 20 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 14 | 1:24.721 | 1.113 | |
| 21 | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 1:24.827 | 1.219 |
| 22 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 12 | 1:24.859 | 1.251 | |
| 23 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:24.930 | 1.322 | |
| 24 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 13 | 1:25.050 | 1.442 | |
| 25 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:25.060 | 1.452 |
| 26 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:25.081 | 1.473 | |
| 27 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:25.125 | 1.517 | |
| 28 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:25.350 | 1.742 | |
| 29 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:25.624 | 2.016 | |
| 30 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 7 | 1:25.909 | 2.301 | |
| 31 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:26.754 | 3.146 | |
| 32 | 38 | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 8 | 1:26.935 | 3.327 |