Turkington takes Brands Pole

Colin Turkington has taken pole position for tomorrow’s opening round of the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent. Turkington, driving a Team RAC BMW 320si E90, set pole position in a time of 49.532s.

Second fastest, just 0.016s slower, was the SEAT of Jason Plato (Oxford) in 49.548s and third Plato’s team-mate Darren Turner in 49.652s. Turner (Leamington-Spa) had to rely on his time set earlier in the session after he crashed out.

The top six were completed by Vauxhall team-mates Fabrizio Giovanardi and Tom Chilton (Reigate), each in one of the manufacturer’s new Vectras, and Mat Jackson (Henley-in-Arden), an impressive sixth overall for what will be his BTCC debut in his Jacksons MSport team’s BMW 320si E90. He was just ahead of Turkington’s 19-year-old team-mate and similarly-impressive newcomer Tom Onlow-Cole (New Malden).

Reigning champion Matt Neal (Droitwich) was ninth fastest of the record 26 runners in his Team Halfords squad’s new Honda Civic in a time of 49.899s. Less than a second covered the top 15 drivers. Qualifying 15th in one of two bio-ethanol-fuelled MG ZSs on the grid was Kartworld driver Jason Hughes (Preston). Making BTCC history, the championship’s first diesel-powered car, Rick Kerry’s (Ipswich) Team AFM BMW 120D, qualified 25th overall.

Turkington, aged 25 and who finished third in last year’s championship, said: “This is a great result for everyone in the team in what is their first meeting with the BMW and also a great way to start the season. It was very difficult finding a clear lap with all those cars, but we got our strategy and timing right and it all worked out. Tomorrow’s three races will be tough – even though the BMW is very good off the line with its rear-wheel-drive the pressure from behind will be immense; the times are so close.”

Plato, the 2001 champion and for whom this weekend marks a decade since he made his BTCC debut, believes he can turn the tables on Turkington tomorrow. The 39-year-old added: “I set quite a few fastest sector times in response to Colin, but never got the chance to string them together because of other drivers getting in the way. It would have been nice if a few of them had looked in their mirrors to see if anything was coming up behind them! The BMW will be difficult to beat off the line, but tomorrow’s races are long and we’ll be lapping people at some point which is bound to cause a bit of confusion. I predict three very exciting races, for the drivers and the spectators.”

Turner, aged 30, said: “I’m pleasantly surprised to be third after going off the track – I had a brake problem and just want straight on into the gravel trap. I thought I’d end up way down the order but I’m still in the hunt.”

Neal, meanwhile, was upbeat about his car’s performance after it arrived at Brands with limited testing miles. The 40-year-old, champion for the past two seasons, said: “Considering the quality of the field, it’s a decent start – I’m less than 4/10ths of a second off the pace in a car that’s only done a day and a half of testing and still isn’t set up perfectly. From here I hope we can score some decent points.”

In addition to Jackson and Onslow-Cole, there were also strong performances today from Mike Jordan, eighth fastest in his Eurotech with John Guest-Speedfit Honda Integra, and several of the championship’s emerging stars: Team Air Cool’s Adam Jones and Motorbase Performance team-mates Matt Allison and Gareth Howell, all in SEAT Toledos were tenth, 11th and 13th fastest respectively and, holding onto 12th despite a crash, 12th the Quest Racing Alfa Romeo of Irishman Eoin Murray. One to watch could be Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden, 15th fastest in his Honda Civic that only ran for the first time on Friday.

Tomorrow’s action will receive live television coverage from 16.00-17.30 on ITV3 with all-day live coverage on subscriber channel Setanta Sports 2.