Colin Turkington secures pole position at Tianma

Colin Turkington has taken his second pole position in a row for the SAIC Volkswagen 333 Racing team at Tianma, outqualifying the Kia of Alex Fontana by just under a tenth of a second.

Turkington set his best time of 1:04.961 just before the half-way point of the 30-minute session in his Lamando GTS.

The Northern Irishman’s first challenge came from championship leader Leo Yi, who placed his Dongfeng Kia second, just over a tenth of a second behind.

In the final moments, Kia’s international wild card, Alex Fontana, split the two drivers with a time just 0.063 seconds slower, securing the front row spot alongside Turkington for this afternoon’s sprint race.

Leo Yi will start third, with Juan Carlos Zhu the best-placed of the BAIC Senova drivers in fourth.

Changan Ford FRD Team’s leading championship challenger Martin Cao qualified in fifth, ahead of the second best of Volkswagen’s drivers, with Rodolfo Avila in sixth, and team-mate Zhang Zhen Dong seventh.

Kia’s Jason Zhang was eighth, with the Senova of Adam Morgan ninth ahead of Josh Burdon’s Ford, with the top 13 cars covered by a second.

Kia’s new signing André Couto qualified in 12th, eight-tenths off the pace in his Kia K3 2.0T.

The first race is scheduled for 14:18 CST (08:18 CEST).