Sam Tordoff takes maiden pole at Snetterton
Sam Tordoff took his maiden BTCC pole position in a red flag-affected session at Snetterton, halted following a sizeable crash for Motorbase Performance’s Aron Smith.
Tordoff led a dominant Triple Eight MG one-two ahead of team-mate Jason Plato, with the pair the only drivers able to lap in the 1.56s bracket.
The Yorkshireman took pole with his first lap of 1.56.817, and quickly got down to 1.56.696 on his second flyer – with both times good enough for P1. His best lap was nearly a full second faster than Frank Wrathall’s qualifying lap record from 2012.
Gordon Shedden was third for Honda Racing Team, nearly half a second shy of Tordoff, ahead of Andrew Jordan’s Eurotech Racing Honda Civic, and Colin Turkington’s West Surrey Racing BMW 125i.
Smith was sixth despite his big accident after 13 minutes, which happened just after he had set his best time.
The Irishman lost the car at Riches, speared across the circuit and hit the barrier hard. Fortunately, he was able to walk away from his badly damaged machine, and climbed into the doctor’s car unaided.
Adam Morgan was next, with Jack Goff taking a career-best eighth ahead of Dave Newsham and the impressive Dan Welch.
But it was a troubled session for championship leader Matt Neal, with the Honda Racing Team man unable to better 11th, and pitting with an apparent technical problem with five minutes left on the clock.
Of the new cars, Andy Neate qualified 23rd in his IP Tech Chevrolet Cruze, while Warren Scott’s Team BRM Restart Volkswagen CC was unable to set a time due to technical problems. The returning Robb Holland was 21st in the Tony Gilham Racing Vauxhall Insignia.
Lea Wood overcame a misfire to lead the Jack Sears Trophy runners in his JWT Performance Vauxhall Vectra, in 22nd position overall.
The session also saw brief offs for Morgan, Turkington’s team-mate Rob Collard and the Tony Gilham Racing Volkswagen CC of Tom Onslow-Cole. The latter stopped out on circuit in the final stages of the session.
The first of tomorrow’s three races gets under way at 12:02 BST.
