Colin Turkington pips Aron Taylor-Smith to Knockhill pole position
Colin Turkington clinched his 30th career British Touring Car Championship pole position at Knockhill after narrowly pipping Aron Taylor-Smith to top spot in what proved to be a thrilling session at the Scottish circuit.
The West Surrey Racing driver proved to be the benchmark throughout all three segments in qualifying however he was made to work for it as Power Maxed Racing’s Taylor-Smith delivered a sensational performance.
Turkington’s second successive pole – the first time he has achieved that feat since 2016 – saw the Northern Irishman set a new lap record as he lapped the 1.27-mile Fife circuit in 50.862.
Taylor-Smith was arguably one of the stars of the show as he hustled his Vauxhall Astra to a season-best qualifying for the Independent team, getting to within 0.035 of Turkington.
Adam Morgan ensured there will be two BMWs starting inside the top three as he powered his rear-wheel-drive machine onto the second row, with Dan Rowbottom – who had narrowly made it out of Q1 – in fourth ahead of
In what was a frenetic fight to secure a good starting spot, championship leader Tom Ingram found himself one of the big casualties to suffer in Q1 as he failed to progress, leaving him 15th overall.
Other big names that were unable to make it into Q2 included the Speedworks Motorsport duo of Rob Huff and Aiden Moffat, who ended the session in 13th and 14th.
Ingram’s main title protagonists would also fail to make it into the top six shootout for pole position as both Jake Hill and Ash Sutton struggled to make an impact on proceedings, the pair settling for seventh and 12th respectively.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 11:45 on Sunday.
