Ashley Sutton claims second pole as title contenders struggle

Ashley Sutton maintained the MG6 GT’s impressive record around the 1.64 mile national circuit at Silverstone as the Jack Sears Trophy leader claimed a second career pole in the penultimate qualifying session of the season.

Sutton, who set a fastest lap time of 53.321 seconds in the  middle stages of the thirty-minute session, will head up the front row alongside Tom Ingram, who retains his record as the best qualifier of the campaign with a time just 0.003 seconds adrift of the MG rising star.

Josh Cook completed a strong day for MG RCIB Insurance Racing with third, whilst Andrew Jordan starts as the highest placed of those still in with a realistic chance of taking the championship title in fourth. Adam Morgan, who earlier topped the opening free practice session, is fifth alongside fans favourite Rob Austin. Matt Neal was seventh.

Neal’s Honda team-mate and the other closest challenger to standings leader Sam Tordoff, defending champion Gordon Shedden, could only manage 10^th behind the ever-improving Hunter Abbott and Aron Smith, who claimed victory in the reverse grid contest last time out at Rockingham.

With a full quota of success ballast on board, Sam Tordoff’s earlier prediction to TouringCars.net that the weight would hurt less at Silverstone proved unfounded, as the BMW 125i M-Sport struggled to 15^th. With Jack Goff 17^th and Rob Collard, still a title contender himself, 24^th, WSR face a recovery job for the second meeting in a row after qualifying similarly at Rockingham.

With Colin Turkington already relegated to 29^th by virtue of his grid penalty for incurring a third strike at the Northamptonshire circuit three weeks ago, Jason Plato completed a frustrating session for Silverline Subaru BMR Racing in 15^th. Plato, who can still win the title but sits on the fringes of the fight, will need a strong set of results tomorrow to keep his record of going into the last round of the championship with a shot at the title every year for the last decade or so.

A disappointing day for the title challengers was completed by the newly-liveried Mat Jackson, as the Ford Focus ST pilot struggled to 20^th at a circuit in which the driver/car combination has proved a race-winning one in recent years.

The opening race tomorrow presents a fantastic opportunity for those chasing Tordoff to close the gap, assuming the 27-year old fails to perform another stellar comeback as in race two at Rockingham and claim victory. With those at the sharp end, such as Andrew Jordan, looking to reinvigorate his challenge for the crown, tomorrow evening could represent another twist in this year’s title race.

Qualifying times

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	21	58.321
2	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	24	58.324	0.003
3	66	M	Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	23	58.467	0.146
4	77		Andrew JORDAN		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	22	58.481	0.160
5	33		Adam MORGAN		WIX Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	23	58.537	0.216
6	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	23	58.598	0.277
7	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	22	58.671	0.350
8	53		Hunter ABBOTT		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	23	58.709	0.388
9	40		Árón SMITH		BKR	Volkswagen CC	22	58.724	0.403
10	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	21	58.780	0.459
11	24		Jake HILL		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	23	58.857	0.536
12	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	22	58.876	0.555
13	39	M	Warren SCOTT		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	22	58.883	0.562
14	30		Martin DEPPER		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	23	58.960	0.639
15	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	23	58.997	0.676
16	99	M	Jason PLATO		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	23	59.007	0.686
17	600	C	Sam TORDOFF		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	22	59.014	0.693
18	31	C	Jack GOFF		Team IHG Rewards Club	BMW 125i M Sport	24	59.040	0.719
19	55		Jeff SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	21	59.055	0.734
20	84		Kelvin FLETCHER		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	21	59.080	0.759
21	7		Mat JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	21	59.149	0.828
22	17		Dan WELCH		Goodestone Racing	Proton Persona	24	59.236	0.915
23	20	M	James COLE		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	25	59.339	1.018
24	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD Tuning	Audi S3	20	59.368	1.047
25	100	C	Rob COLLARD		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	20	59.380	1.059
26	95		Stewart LINES		Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	23	59.428	1.107
27	34		Tony GILHAM		TLC Racing	Toyota Avensis	23	59.530	1.209
28	38		Mark HOWARD		BKR	Volkswagen CC	18	59.717	1.396
29	14		Alex MARTIN		Dextra Racing with Team Parker	Ford Focus	15	59.914	1.593
30	303		Matt SIMPSON		Speedworks Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	6	1:00.615	2.294
31	12		Mike EPPS		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	2	1:00.976	2.655

Complete session results