BTC Racing’s Senna Proctor took his maiden pole position in the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park ahead of Gordon Shedden.
Proctor’s 1 minute 25.485 was 0.076 seconds quicker than Halfords Racing with Cataclean’s Shedden, with the Honda Civic driver’s time also only being one thousandth of a second slower than the lap record currently held by Jason Plato that was set in 2015.
After both practice sessions had seen wet and slippery conditions, qualifying on Saturday afternoon was held in dry but overcast conditions at the Cheshire circuit, and it saw an extremely close battle at the top.
The leading quartet of drivers – Proctor, Shedden, Rory Butcher in the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Corolla and Dan Rowbottom in the second Team Dynamics Honda – were split by just 0.093 of a second by the end of the 30-minute session.
The leading trio had regularly swapped fastest times across the early stages of qualifying and it was Proctor who would go on to set the fastest time with just three minutes remaining on the clock.
Fifth on the race one grid will be fastest man in the second free practice session Jack Goff, with the Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct CUPRA driver’s 1 minute 25.699 time 0.121 seconds slower than Rowbottom ahead.
Sixth in Cheshire went to Adam Morgan driving the Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW, with the top 10 being completed by Jake Hill in the MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square Ford Focus lining up seventh for tomorrows opening race of the weekend.
Team BMW duo Stephen Jelley and Colin Turkington – who currently sits fourth in the Drivers Standings – finished eighth and ninth respectively, while championship leader Ash Sutton rounded out the top 10 despite carrying maximum success ballast during the session.
Sam Osborne recovered from a spin at the Hislop chicane to end the session 11th, while Aiden Moffat, Josh Cook, FP1 pace sitter Tom Oliphant and Sam Smelt completed the top 15 runners.
Tom Ingram in the Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com Hyundai will start the first race of the weekend at the back of the grid after he didn’t set a lap time during the 30-minute session after mechanical issues prevented him from getting out on track.
Race one at Oulton Park is timetabled to begin at 12:20 BST on Sunday.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 18 |  |
Senna PROCTOR | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 17 | 1:25.485 | – |
| 2 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:25.561 | 0.076 |
| 3 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1:25.572 | 0.087 |
| 4 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 1:25.578 | 0.093 |
| 5 | 31 | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 17 | 1:25.699 | 0.214 |
| 6 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 18 | 1:25.702 | 0.217 |
| 7 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:25.716 | 0.231 |
| 8 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:25.775 | 0.290 |
| 9 | 2 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:25.795 | 0.310 |
| 10 | 1 | |
Ash SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 1:25.807 | 0.322 |
| 11 | 4 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 17 | 1:25.905 | 0.420 |
| 12 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 1:25.940 | 0.455 |
| 13 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:26.021 | 0.536 |
| 14 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 18 | 1:26.044 | 0.559 |
| 15 | 23 | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 1:26.047 | 0.562 |
| 16 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:26.087 | 0.602 |
| 17 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 1:26.089 | 0.604 |
| 18 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:26.132 | 0.647 |
| 19 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 1:26.141 | 0.656 |
| 20 | 22 | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 1:26.216 | 0.731 |
| 21 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 1:26.610 | 1.125 |
| 22 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:26.621 | 1.136 |
| 23 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | PHSC with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 17 | 1:26.719 | 1.234 |
| 24 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 14 | 1:26.790 | 1.305 |
| 25 | 19 | |
Jack MITCHELL | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:26.854 | 1.369 |
| 26 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 1:27.001 | 1.516 |
| 27 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 1:27.254 | 1.769 |
| 28 | 44 | |
Andy NEATE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 7 | 1:28.145 | 2.660 |
| 29 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 1 | No time | N/A |