Jason Plato snatched Pole Position at Rockingham, ahead of Round 25 of the BTCC. He took 1st with a record lap of 1m24.087s to beat team-mate Mat Jackson with only three minutes remaining.
Another late effort, this time from Airwaves BMW driver Jonathan Adam knocked Jackson down to 3rd place on the grid, but ahead of the first West Surrey Racing entry of Stephen Jelley.
Paul O’Neill took a brilliant 5th place with his BTC-spec Honda Integra, ahead of series returnee Gordon Shedden driving for his new team, GR-Asia.
Rob Collard qualified 8th, despite his car suffering a mechanical failure at Tarzan Hairpin midway through the session.
10 minutes into qualifying, chaos ensued after Matt Hamilton‘s Integra dropped oil on the circuit at Pif-Paf, and the session was halted to cover the oil slick in cement dust, as several cars were involved, including O’Neill, Collard, Harry Vaulkhard, David Pinkney and Colin Turkington.
Turkington had a nightmare session, qualifying a dissapointing 14th, while championship rival Fabrizio Giovanardi crucially qualified 7 places ahead. Giovanardi is also helped by team-mate Andrew Jordan qualifying between him and Turkington, and the third VX Racing machine of Matt Neal also starts a place behind Turkington.
Qualifying Results
Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m24.087s 2. Jonathan Adam BMW 1m24.194s + 0.107s 3. Mat Jackson Chevrolet 1m24.300s + 0.213s 4. Stephen Jelley BMW 1m24.353s + 0.266s 5. Paul O'Neill Honda 1m24.505s + 0.418s 6. Gordon Shedden SEAT 1m24.553s + 0.466s 7. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall 1m24.568s + 0.481s 8. Rob Collard BMW 1m24.626s + 0.539s 9. Johnny Herbert Honda 1m24.656s + 0.569s 10. Tom Chilton Ford 1m24.700s + 0.613s 11. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 1m24.711s + 0.624s 12. James Nash Chevrolet 1m24.744s + 0.657s 13. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet 1m24.776s + 0.689s 14. Colin Turkington BMW 1m24.801s + 0.714s 15. Matt Neal Vauxhall 1m24.937s + 0.850s 16. David Pinkney Honda 1m25.088s + 1.001s 17. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 1m25.232s + 1.145s 18. Anthony Reid BMW 1m25.377s + 1.290s 19. Martin Johnson Vauxhall 1m26.800s + 2.713s 20. Matthew Hamilton Honda 1m28.969s + 4.882s 21. John George Honda
