Árón Taylor-Smith secures pole position for Oulton Park qualifying race

Laser Tools Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith scored his first pole position in more than a decade in the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park, beating NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish by a mere 0.009 seconds.

Taylor-Smith, who was in the second qualifying group, equalled the fastest lap time of the day, with an identical time to that posted by Aiden Moffat in the earlier practice session.

The Irishman had to work hard to get the top time, having earlier briefly gone quickest before having his lap deleted for exceeding track limits. However, on his next lap, Taylor-Smith posted a time of 1:24.213 to go quickest of all, whilst Cammish, who had been quickest in Group 1, had to settle for second.

Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble emerged as the top Audi driver in third, although fourth-placed Josh Cook was actually faster but starts a place behind as grid positions are assigned based on each driver’s respective position in each group.

Power Maxed Racing’s Dexter Patterson will line up in fifth for the qualifying race, whilst championship leader Ash Sutton was sixth – the NAPA Racing UK driver having had four lap times disallowed before he finally posted a time good enough for the third row of the grid.

Team VERTU duo Tom Chilton and Tom Ingram will start from seventh and eighth respectively, whilst the top ten grid positions are completed by Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan and Power Maxed’s Aiden Moffat.

The qualifying race is scheduled to get underway at 15:05 BST.

Combined qualifying result

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	50		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	1:24.213	–
2	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:24.222	0.009
3	88		Mikey DOBLE	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	9	1:24.326	0.113
4	66		Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	1:24.318	0.105
5	17		Dexter PATTERSON	Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	9	1:24.522	0.309
6	116		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:24.635	0.422
7	3		Tom CHILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	10	1:24.593	0.380
8	80		Tom INGRAM	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	9	1:24.756	0.543
9	33		Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	9	1:24.602	0.389
10	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	9	1:24.758	0.545
11	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:24.967	0.754
12	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	1:24.902	0.689
13	132		James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	9	1:24.987	0.774
14	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	9	1:24.939	0.726
15	99		Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	9	1:25.227	1.014
16	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	9	1:24.988	0.775
17	2		Daryl DE LEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	9	1:25.365	1.152
18	15		Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:25.104	0.891
19	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	8	1:25.443	1.230
20	11		Ricky COLLARD	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	9	1:25.255	1.042
21	19		Max BUXTON	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	0	No time	N/A