Croft BTCC: Colin Turkington gives WSR's new BMW first pole
Colin Turkington gave WSR's NGTC BMW its first British Touring Car pole by topping a dramatic qualifying session at Croft
Problems early on and the pace of the Honda Civic meant it did not look as though Turkington would quite be in the hunt for pole.
Instead Matt Neal's works Honda Civic and then the Eurotech example of Andrew Jordan set the pace, with Jordan the first going under 1m25s.
Neal moved back to the front with 1m24.630s before Jason Plato's works MG broke the Croft BTCC qualifying record with 1m24.613s.
After an off early in the session, reigning champion Gordon Shedden moved into third before Turkington finally recorded a competitive lap to go fourth.
Joe Girling's S2000 Chevrolet Cruze then crashed, bringing out the red flags with four minutes remaining.
Turkington worked his tyres hard on his out-lap after the session resumed and, despite an off for a Motorbase Ford Focus that was running ahead of him, the 2009 champion kept his nerve to snatch pole with 1m24.465s.
At the same his team-mate Rob Collard improved to sixth, with Plato, Neal, Shedden and Jordan filling the spaces in-between.
WSR boss Dick Bennetts said: "BMWs have always been good here, it's somewhere the rear-wheel-drive works well."
Frank Wrathall's Dynojet Toyota Avensis was seventh from Sam Tordoff, who suffered a driveshaft failure on his MG6 during practice.
BTCC debutant Jake Hill led the S2000 runners early on in Motorbase's old Focus, but Lea Wood pipped him in his Vauxhall Vectra before the red flag.
The results remain provisional as several cars, including Plato and the three top Hondas, are under investigation for exceeding the track limits.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m24.465s 2. Jason Plato MG 1m24.613s +0.148s 3. Matt Neal Honda 1m24.630s +0.165s 4. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m24.706s +0.241s 5. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m24.756s +0.291s 6. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m24.819s +0.354s 7. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 1m25.143s +0.678s 8. Sam Tordoff MG 1m25.276s +0.811s 9. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW 1m25.321s +0.856s 10. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 1m25.374s +0.909s 11. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m25.424s +0.959s 12. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m25.503s +1.038s 13. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota 1m25.591s +1.126s 14. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 1m25.592s +1.127s 15. Michael Caine Motorbase Ford 1m25.785s +1.320s 16. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 1m25.899s +1.434s 17. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall 1m26.083s +1.618s 18. Rob Austin Austin Audi 1m26.112s +1.647s 19. Will Bratt Austin Audi 1m26.201s +1.736s 20. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 1m26.384s +1.919s 21. Daniel Welch Welch Proton 1m26.611s +2.146s 22. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall 1m26.746s +2.281s* 23. Jake Hill Motorbase Ford 1m27.208s +2.743s* 24. David Nye Welch Ford 1m28.373s +3.908s* 25. James Cole Hard Vauxhall 1m28.421s +3.956s 26. Joe Girling Finesse Chevrolet 1m29.140s +4.675s* 27. James Kaye AmD VW 1m29.282s +4.817s* 28. Warren Scott BMR SEAT 1m29.322s +4.857s* * S2000
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