Surprise front row at Donington

Andrew Jordan inherited his first ever British Touring Car Championship pole position ahead of Harry Vaulkhard, to provide a shock front row for Sunday’s first race, after teammate Fabrizio Giovanardi was excluded from the session.

The reigning champion had taken pole position on the track by 0.070 from Jordan, but was relegated to the back of the grid after his VX Racing Vectra failed to start on the weighbridge after qualifying.

As a result Jordan takes pole position with his lap of 1:13:241, just 0.015 seconds ahead of Vaulkhard, who snatched his front row starting spot with just seconds of the session remaining.

Former BTCC champions James Thompson and Jason Plato line up third and fourth for Sunday’s first race, while current championship leader Matt Neal, carrying the maximum 45kgs of ballast, will be disappointed to be down in eight, one place behind his nearest championship challenger Colin Turkington.

Despite being quickest in both of Saturday morning’s practice sessions, Team RAC’s Stephen Jelley could only manage fifth during qualifying, albeit a position which made him fastest BMW, ahead of Rob Collard and teammate Turkington.

The third Chevrolet Lacetti of Thruxton race winner Matt Jackson came in tenth, while Alan Morrison recorded Team Aon’s best qualifying effort of the season so far, making use of the improvements to the Ford Focus to record 13th place.

At the back of the grid Martyn Bell managed just four laps in his Vauxhall Astra, failing to set a time after a spin, with both Dan Eaves and Nick Leason unable to take to the track during the session due to the engine and clutch problems both had suffered respectively during the morning at Donington.