Colin Turkington pipped fellow WSR BMW drivers Jake Hill and Stephen Jelley to claim pole position in a fiercely contested Saturday qualifying session on the Snetterton 300 circuit this afternoon.
It was the Northern Irishman's 27th career BTCC pole, and his third of 2022, as he lapped the Norfolk circuit in 1m55.805 in hot conditions. Turkington's Team BMW 330e M Sport emerged quickest after a session-long duel with ROKiT MB Motorsport ace Jake Hill throughout the 30-minute qualifying period.
Hill's mid-session benchmark of 1m55.870s looked at one stage as though it may be enough to claim the spoils, but that all changed in the final minutes of the session. Hill and Turkington both looked set to improve late on, but the former's lap was hampered late on by a slower car, allowing Turkington to benefit and move to the top of the times.
Turkington's qualifying performance was made all the more impressive by his lack of hybrid power as a handicap for his status as championship leader. He now heads into tomorrow in the strongest possible position ahead of his anticipated 500th BTCC race start in race three.
Stephen Jelley completed the BMW top-three lockout after a strong showing which equalled his best qualifying performance of the season. Tom Ingram's Hyundai was another early contender for pole early in the session, but he was ultimately just shy of the leading BMW pace and ended up fourth. Adam Morgan completed the top-five in his Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW.
Other notable performers included Jason Plato who showed strongly to seal sixth position for BTC Racing in his final Snetterton qualifying session. Daniel Rowbottom produced a solid effort to go seventh quickets, one place ahead of Dan Cammish with Tom Chilton and Ricky Collard rounding out the top-10.
Reigning champion Ashley Sutton will start down in 11th after his attempts to find time late on resulted in a detour through the grass at Russell.
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Snetterton, Qualifying, Result
1. Colin Turkington, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport,
1m55.805s
2. Jake Hill, ROKiT MB Motorsport, BMW 330e M Sport,
+0.065s
3. Stephen Jelley, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.323s
4. Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8, Hyundai
i30N, +0.344s
5. Adam Morgan, Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport, BMW 330e M
Sport, +0.379s
6. Jason Plato, Rich Energy BTC Racing, Honda Civic Type R,
+0.403s
7. Daniel Rowbottom, Halfords Racing with Cataclean, Honda
Civic Type R, +0.476s
8. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +0.512s
9. Tom Chilton, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8,
+0.615s
10. Ricky Collard, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK, Toyota Corolla,
+0.667s
For full timings and results from this weekend's event, please click here.