Colin Turkington made history at Oulton Park this afternoon as he claimed the first pole position for Silverline Subaru BMR Racing and the first in the history of the British Touring Car Championship for a Subaru model.
The double champion clocked a fastest lap time of 1:26.264 around the 2.2 mile Island configuration of Oulton Park to head up the 32 strong field, with Eurotech Racing’s Daniel Lloyd another surprise as he took second.
Sam Tordoff finished the session in third as the highest placed of the three BMW 125i M-Sport machines, whilst team-mates Jack Goff and Rob Collard could manage just 15th and 16th respectively.
Despite setting the pace during the first two free practice sessions earlier in the day, Tom Ingram was only able to claim fourth in the Toyota Avensis, a mere 0.078 seconds behind the Levorg GT of Turkington. His team-mate Matt Simpson, who made the switch to the newer RML specification control parts prior to the weekend in Cheshire, was only able to line up 21st.
Defending champion Gordon Shedden heads up the third row in 5th, whilst team-mate and joint standings leader Matt Neal qualified 8th with a full quota of success ballast on board the Honda Civic Type-R. Former team-mates Jason Plato and Aron Smith as well as the MG duo of Ashley Sutton and Josh Cook completed the top ten.
Team BMR started the session as they intended to carry on, setting the initial pace during the opening stages, with Plato setting the first representative time of 1:26.446 after nearly a third distance. Turkington claimed top spot with nineteen minutes to go, a position he never looked likely to relinquish.
Andrew Jordan went second with twenty-two minutes to go, just three tenths behind the double champion, though he dropped off in the latter stages of the session and eventually lined up 12th, whilst team-mate Mat Jackson struggled to 25th on a poor afternoon for the double Thruxton winners.
As the times continued to tumble the usual suspects took their places at the forefront of the field, but the landmark story was the return of Team BMR to the front of the grid. Their boost levels are set to be evaluated by TOCA prior to the first contest tomorrow, but only for the purposes of deciding whether or not to add additional performance.
The first race gets underway tomorrow at 12:17 tomorrow.
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 | 1:26.264 | |
| 2 | 23 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:26.283 | 0.019 | |
| 3 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 13 | 1:26.315 | 0.051 |
| 4 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 12 | 1:26.342 | 0.078 | |
| 5 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:26.343 | 0.079 |
| 6 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:26.366 | 0.102 |
| 7 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 12 | 1:26.439 | 0.175 |
| 8 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:26.490 | 0.226 |
| 9 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 1:26.493 | 0.229 | |
| 10 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 14 | 1:26.643 | 0.379 |
| 11 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:26.726 | 0.462 | |
| 12 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 14 | 1:26.749 | 0.485 | |
| 13 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:26.751 | 0.487 | |
| 14 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 13 | 1:26.809 | 0.545 | |
| 15 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:26.839 | 0.575 |
| 16 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 1:26.888 | 0.624 |
| 17 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:26.903 | 0.639 | |
| 18 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:26.954 | 0.690 |
| 19 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:26.976 | 0.712 | |
| 20 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:26.985 | 0.721 | |
| 21 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:27.139 | 0.875 | |
| 22 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:27.211 | 0.947 | |
| 23 | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:27.289 | 1.025 |
| 24 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 8 | 1:27.369 | 1.105 | |
| 25 | 7 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 14 | 1:27.379 | 1.115 | |
| 26 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 15 | 1:27.470 | 1.206 | |
| 27 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 14 | 1:27.654 | 1.390 | |
| 28 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:27.749 | 1.485 |