Matt Neal has taken the the first pole position for the Honda Racing Team this season at Croft, with Andrew Jordan and Gordon Shedden completing a Honda top three.
The session started in damp conditions after a brief rain shower just preceded it, with the majority of the changes at the top of the time sheets changing within the first ten minutes of qualifying. Mat Jackson, Tom Onslow-Cole, Jason Plato, Rob Austin and Gordon Shedden all briefly held pole position before Matt Neal set what would be the pole position lap of 1:24.900 after just nine minutes.
Neal’s time wasn’t faster than that of rival Jason Plato’s MG from Free Practice 2, but Plato had little opportunity to improve with his Triple Eight MG stopping out on circuit with just under five minutes to go at the hairpin. The car was recovered under yellow flags and no one able to improve until it was moved.
The only driver to make a notable improvement late in the session was Frank Wrathall in the Dynojet Racing Toyota. Wrathall improved to go fourth fastest behind the three Honda drivers, whilst Plato’s time of 1:25.221 was still good enough for fifth on the grid.
All 23 cars took part in the session, including Paul O’Neill who had been suffering with throttle problems in the first two practice sessions, and set the 18th fastest time in his Speedworks-run Toyota Avensis.
Neal’s pole is the first for the Team Dynamics-run Honda team since the 2011 season finale at Silverstone, though Andrew Jordan claimed the first pole for the NGTC-spec Civic run by the independent Eurotech Racing team at Thruxton in April.
The first race takes place at 12:00 BST on Sunday 24th June.
