Sam Tordoff scored a first pole position in the British Touring Car Championship, beating teammate Jason Plato to first by 0.223 seconds which ensured MG locked out the front row for the second time this season.
Click here for the full Round 16 qualifying results.
The majority of fast laps came in the opening 12 minutes of the session, before Árón Smith lost his Airwaves Ford Focus on the exit of turn one and hit the inside barrier, causing the session to be red flagged. A long delay occurred to remove the stricken Focus and repair the damage to the barrier, and although the session resumed with 17 minutes remaining, no one was able to make an impression on the MG dominance at the head of the field.
Although the lockout was a surprise to few, the order had been difficult to predict with Tordoff matching Plato closely in practice one before setting the fastest time in the second session. In the end, there was a similar pattern to practice, with Plato going fastest at first before Tordoff beat his time with two consecutive fast laps.
Gordon Shedden qualified his Honda in third and will carry the same amount of ballast into the race as Plato, as they are level on points in the championship. Fellow championship contenders Andrew Jordan and Colin Turkington completed the top five, ahead of Smith who had posted his fastest time just before his crash.
After performing well throughout practice, Dave Newsham ended up a slightly frustrating 9th, but there were reasons to be cheerful in the places immediately ahead and behind the Scotsman. Jack Goff scored his best ever qualifying result with 8th place in his Vauxhall Insignia, while Dan Welch made the top ten for the first time this season.
Behind them, Matt Neal had a difficult afternoon. Having struggled all day, Neal briefly made the top ten but was squeezed out by Adam Morgan, and called time on his session with five minutes remaining, an indication that there was more affecting his car than ballast.
Robb Holland will start 21st on his return to the series, while Andy Neate is 23rd in his IP Tech Racing Chevrolet Cruze.
Lea Wood’s troubles looked to have remained from second practice, but the red flag gave his team more time to repair his car, and he eventually set the fastest time in the s2000 class, beating James Kaye driving an S2000 Honda Civic for the first time this season.