Colin Turkington takes dramatic pole at Oulton Park

West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington snatched a dramatic late pole position at Oulton Park, deposing long-time pace-setter Jason Plato in the dying embers of a truncated qualifying session.

Triple Eight’s Plato had dominated all of the early exchanges in his MG6 GT, sitting atop the times despite being stripped of his best lap for exceeding track limits.

But Turkington set two laps good enough for pole in the final two minutes of the session, and ended up 0.649 clear of Plato.

The session was red-flagged with 10 minutes to go, after an off for Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan at Druids. And after it restarted following a lengthy delay, Turkington timed his charge to perfection as spots of rain began to fall.

He then set an even better lap on his final run, and while Plato also improved his best time, he fell just short. But both title contenders were well clear of championship leader Andrew Jordan, who could only manage 13th on the grid in his Eurotech Racing Honda Civic.

Scores of drivers climbed the order at the end of the session, but a host of improvements bit the dust when Motorbase Performance’s Jack Clarke went off at Druids and caused a second red flag with 30 seconds to go.

Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden ended up third ahead of Turkington’s team-mate Rob Collard, with Sam Tordoff next up in fifth.

Rob Austin was an excellent sixth in his Audi A4, with Mat Jackson, Marc Hynes, Tom Ingram and Nick Foster completing the top 10.

Team BMR’s Aron Smith qualified 11th after initially losing his times for failing a ride height test, while his team-mate Alain Menu qualified outside the top 10 for the first time this season in 15th.

He was just behind Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal, who had his best time taken away for exceeding track limits.

Ollie Jackson only completed three installation laps in his repaired Proton Gen-2, using the throttle body borrowed from team-mate Dan Welch’s car. He then returned to the pits and returned the part to Welch, who completed the qualifying session.

Robb Holland had an off on the exit of Druids in his Rotek Racing Audi S3, escaping relatively unscathed after a scrape with the barrier, while Hunter Abbott also had a spin in his Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 at Cascades in the closing stages.

The marshals extracted Morgan’s Mercedes A-Class from the barriers after his off, and he was able to drive it back to the pits. He ended up 25th on the grid.