AmD Tuning’s Sam Tordoff pipped Jason Plato to pole position in qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton, repeating the same feat he previously achieved in May.
Tordoff secured pole last time the championship visited the Hampshire circuit and eclipsed provisional polesitter Plato by just 0.014s.
Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish heads the second row in his FK8 Honda Civic as another runner who was within a tenth of Tordoff’s benchmark.
Next was Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan who shares the second row with Cammish in his Mercedes A-Class, while Josh Cook’s BTC Racing Honda Civic completed the top five.
Double BTCC race winner Rory Butcher had set the early pace in the first third of the half-hour session, but would ultimately place sixth ahead of Tom Oliphant who was the fastest rear-wheel drive runner in the BMW 3 Series.
2018 runner-up Tom Ingram was eighth, while Chris Smiley made it two BTC Racing Civic’s in the top ten, which Plato’s Power Maxed Racing team-mate Rob Collard rounded out.
Defending champion and current standings leader Colin Turkington narrowly missed out on the top ten ahead of Ash Sutton’s Subaru in 12th.
The third WSR-run BMW 330i M Sport of Andrew Jordan struggled down in 13th, perhaps with the misfire issue he suffered from in practice still plaguing the car.
Motorbase Performance’s Ollie Jackson would end the session in 14th ahead of Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson.
The result saw the top twenty covered by just seven tenths, and remained green throughout despite a spin for Jake Hill in the dying minutes.
Almost simultaneously, Sam Osborne and Mark Blundell came to blows at the complex, with the contact breaking the front right wheel on Blundell’s Audi and the left- ear on Osborne’s MG.
The opening race of the British Touring Car Championship’s second visit to Thruxton is scheduled to get underway tomorrow at 12:15 BST.
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 600 | I | Sam TORDOFF |  |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:15.876 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 11 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 1:15.890 | 0.014 |
| 3 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:15.949 | 0.073 |
| 4 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 10 | 1:15.995 | 0.119 |
| 5 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:16.111 | 0.235 |
| 6 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:16.182 | 0.306 |
| 7 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 1:16.188 | 0.312 |
| 8 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 13 | 1:16.240 | 0.364 |
| 9 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:16.275 | 0.399 |
| 10 | 9 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:16.353 | 0.477 |
| 11 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:16.360 | 0.484 |
| 12 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 18 | 1:16.362 | 0.486 |
| 13 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 1:16.381 | 0.505 |
| 14 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 14 | 1:16.410 | 0.534 |
| 15 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:16.429 | 0.553 |
| 16 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 15 | 1:16.446 | 0.570 |
| 17 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:16.491 | 0.615 |
| 18 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 16 | 1:16.523 | 0.647 |
| 19 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 13 | 1:16.555 | 0.679 |
| 20 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 13 | 1:16.597 | 0.721 |
| 21 | 32 | I | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:16.906 | 1.030 |
| 22 | 303 | I | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:16.990 | 1.114 |
| 23 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:17.071 | 1.195 |
| 24 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:17.259 | 1.383 |
| 25 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 1:17.305 | 1.429 |
| 26 | 8 | I | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 13 | 1:17.624 | 1.748 |
| 27 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 10 | 1:17.837 | 1.961 |
| 28 | 37 | I | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 15 | 1:17.889 | 2.013 |
| 29 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:17.958 | 2.082 |
| 30 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 14 | 1:19.022 | 3.146 |