Rory Butcher edges second straight pole

Rory Butcher will start race one of the weekend at Oulton Park from pole after securing his second straight BTCC pole position in a hard-fought qualifying session in Cheshire.

The Motorbase driver made the most of the best weather of the day, and the fact he was running lighter than some of his rivals, to edge out Josh Cook for pole in a session that saw the leading pair ultimately split by less than a tenth of a second.

Butcher had been quick on the first runs in qualifying but then saw Colin Turkington become the first driver to break the 1:26s marker as the session headed into the final ten minutes.

That time would then be beaten by Tom Oliphant (who would then lose the time to track limits) and both Cook and Butcher, with the latter’s time ultimately proving to be unbeatable despite the best efforts of the likes of Dan Cammish and Jake Hill right at the finish.

Butcher and Cook therefore lock out the front row for the opening race on Sunday with Turkington heading row two alongside Matt Neal, who will celebrate his 700th start in the series on Sunday.

Cammish was fifth, marking the first time this season he will fail to start from the front row, with Hill settling for sixth – missing out on moving up the order when he lost time in the final sector on what looked set to be his quickest lap.

Tom Chilton and Oliphant followed behind, with Adam Morgan and Chris Smiley rounding out the top ten – despite the latter damaging his Hyundai when he ran off track on his final lap.

Ash Sutton starts down in eleventh having been black-flagged for track limits late on. Sutton was one of a number of drivers to run off early in the session, with Andy Neate also suffering a spin and Bobby Thompson failing to set a time after a spin exiting Cascades.

Tom Ingram was also in the wars, qualifying down in 15th after spending a chunk of the session in the pits after contact with Ollie Brown’s VW at the final corner.