Photo: PSP Images

Honda lock out front row in qualifying

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Honda locked out the front row of the grid at Oulton Park, with Gordon Shedden taking pole position for Round Ten ahead of Matt Neal. The two Honda Civics continued their free practice pace in qualifying to lead the way by almost half a second from Andy Neate, who enjoyed his best ever BTCC qualifying session to narrowly beat Jason Plato.

Shedden and Neal completed just five and six laps respectively, taking first and second with relative ease in a qualifying session that was red flagged with just under three minutes remaining after a number of cars left the circuit on oil dropped by Liam Griffin.

Griffin’s Ford Focus ran wide at Old Hall before bouncing back onto the circuit and depositing oil on the run down towards Cascades before coming to a halt on the Fosters loop at the bottom of the hill.

A number of other cars, including Griffin’s Motorbase teammate Mat Jackson and Dave Newsham, went off on the oil, while Alex MacDowall made heavy contact with the barriers at Druids in a separate incident, bring the session to an abrupt end.

Unlike in the two free practice sessions, several other cars joined the Hondas in lapping beneath the 1:27 mark, with Neate, Plato and Andrew Jordan all going under the 1:28 mark, with Neate’s third place preserved thanks to the sessions early finish, preventing a last gasp assault by Plato.

The Chevrolet Cruze driver missed out on third by just four thousands of a second, with teammate MacDowall finishing up seventh despite his off that saw the car return to the pits on the back of a lorry.

Paul O’Neill and James Nash were the last runners to stay within a second of Shedden in qualifying, with final top ten man Mat Jackson 1.090 in arrears.

Despite having run firmly within the top ten in both practice sessions, Rob Collard could only manage 14th in his BMW.

Toyota Avensis NGTC runner Frank Wrathall put in a good performance after problems in practice to end the session 18th, ahead of Nick Foster and Tom Onslow-Cole. Also recovering after fuel pressure problems in practice was series returnee Lea Wood who ended up 21st, ahead of Rob Austin, Chris James and Tony Hughes, who will bring up the rear of the grid.

Round Ten of the British Touring Car Championship from Oulton Park gets underway on Sunday at 12.15 GMT.