Power Maxed Racing’s Jason Plato converted his strong practice pace into pole position for the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone, edging out the two FK8 Honda Civics of Chris Smiley and Matt Neal.
The double champion has topped every session in his Vauxhall Astra in what has been the perfect Saturday, setting a time of 57.430s to secure pole position.
Just half a tenth shy of Plato’s benchmark was BTC Racing’s Chris Smiley, who enjoyed a return to form just four thousandths ahead of felloe FK8 Honda Civic runner Matt Neal.
Team Toyota GB’s Tom Ingram held on to his Toyota Corolla to secure fourth position for race one, despite a couple of hairy moments Copse corner, with the latter slide resulting in a trip across the grass and light contact with the barrier.
Tom Oliphant had been sat on provisional pole in the early half of the session after a strong showing in the BMW 3 Series, but eventually dropped to fifth ahead of team-mate and championship leader Colin Turkington.
Fellow title contender Dan Cammish lines up just behind the triple champion in seventh position, while Ash Sutton managed to place eighth in an impressive performance given the lack of top-end speed of his Subaru Levorg.
Sutton will start just ahead of former team-mate Josh Cook, while his current team-mate Senna Proctor rounds out the top ten.
Motorbase Performance’s Tom Chilton was 11th, with Knockhill polesitter and racewinner Rory Butcher lining up 12th ahead of AmD Tuning team-mate Mike Bushell, who will see out the remainder of the 2019 campaign with the team.
2013 champion Andrew Jordan, who sits second in the standings, could only manage 14th after the BMW trio attempted to tow each other around the 1.64-mile National layout, but Jordan could not capitalise.
Team HARD’s Jack Goff impressed in 15th position in his Volkswagen CC, while Michael Caine enjoyed a successful first qualifying session in the Motorbase Ford Focus RS to place 16th despite carrying 45kg of ballast.
Caine, who replaces Nic Hamilton for the rest of the season, last drove in the BTCC for Team HARD in a Volkswagen last season.
The opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone is scheduled to get underway tomorrow [September 29] at 12:00 BST.
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | M | Jason PLATO |  |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 22 | 57.430 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 22 | 57.485 | 0.055 |
| 3 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 22 | 57.489 | 0.059 |
| 4 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 20 | 57.522 | 0.092 |
| 5 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 24 | 57.560 | 0.130 |
| 6 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 24 | 57.568 | 0.138 |
| 7 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 21 | 57.657 | 0.227 |
| 8 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 26 | 57.677 | 0.247 |
| 9 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 21 | 57.701 | 0.271 |
| 10 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 24 | 57.705 | 0.275 |
| 11 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 22 | 57.705 | 0.275 |
| 12 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 57.713 | 0.283 |
| 13 | 21 | I | Mike BUSHELL | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 57.748 | 0.318 |
| 14 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 24 | 57.765 | 0.335 |
| 15 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 23 | 57.777 | 0.347 |
| 16 | 44 | I | Michael CAINE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus RS | 23 | 57.812 | 0.382 |
| 17 | 9 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 57.836 | 0.406 |
| 18 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 23 | 57.837 | 0.407 |
| 19 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 23 | 57.849 | 0.419 |
| 20 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 21 | 57.906 | 0.476 |
| 21 | 303 | I | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 25 | 57.959 | 0.529 |
| 22 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 21 | 57.971 | 0.541 |
| 23 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 58.008 | 0.578 |
| 24 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 21 | 58.027 | 0.597 |
| 25 | 32 | I | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 22 | 58.142 | 0.712 |
| 26 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 58.192 | 0.762 |
| 27 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 58.273 | 0.843 |
| 28 | 8 | I | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 22 | 58.363 | 0.933 |
| 29 | 37 | I | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 23 | 58.565 | 1.135 |
| 30 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 21 | 58.959 | 1.529 |