Colin Turkington claimed pole position on his debut for VX Racing here at Donington Park. The Irishman set a time of 1:12.092 before beaching his Astra Sport Hatch in the gravel at Redgate, which caused the session to be red flagged with just three minutes left on the clock.

No-one was able to better Turkington’s time after the restart, but Matt Neal did manage to put his Honda Integra alongside the Astra on the front row of the grid, ahead of Yvan Muller and depriving VX Racing of a 1-2.

Following the session, Turkington commented, “I just got caught out a bit on the cold tyres and I went straight on. It’s just one of those things. I’m happy. It’s always good to be on pole. The car’s been getting quicker in each session and it’s great to be starting on the front row.”

“It’s not going to be easy tomorrow. The Honda’s have been quick but I think we’ve got the pace to be at the front. So I’ll just get my head down and see what we can do tomorrow.”

Dan Eaves joins Muller on the second row in the second Team Halfords Integra, while Rob Collard (MG ZS) and Jason Plato (Seat Toledo Cupra) fill the third line. After setting the third best time in each of the morning sessions, Collard was a little disappointed to be down in fifth.

“I’m frustrated”, said Collard. “The car’s been very good in all the session. I just don’t think we’ve had enough time in the car to get the most from the new tyres and the new car. We had a problem with the car at the end, and I had just done my best sector, but that’s always the way! I’m very frustrated to get pipped at the end. I was P3 for a while, then P4 and then I got knocked down to fifth at the end. That’s frustrating, but as a whole, we’re still very happy. We know we’ve got very good race pace. They’re obviously turning their performance up for qualifying, whereas we haven’t. I’m sure it’ll be very good tomorrow.”

“Colin did a very good time. Starting fifth gives me the inside line on the run down to Redgate. That’s always an advantage. Hopefully the two cars in front of me will get a good start and we can maybe slip up the inside and gain a few places down there. Fingers crossed.”

“Some good top three finishes and some independent wins. That’s what I want. I really do want to be right there in both championships if I’m honest. I know we can’t win the teams’ championship in any shape or form but to try and get a good result for the team, so that that gives them confidence in me. That’s the biggest thing at the moment. They don’t really know me very well and I want to make sure we score some points. The championships are all about the first few races of the year. We’ll worry about trying to win races overall later in the year when I’m a bit more familiar with the car!”

The top ten was rounded out by James Kaye, Luke Hines, Gavin Smith and James Pickford. Richard Williams managed to get some track time in the lone Speed Equipe Lexus IS200, which is invaluable at this early stage in the car’s development. Fellow BTCC newcomer Mark Proctor failed to get out for qualifying in his Astra Coupé, suffering from engine troubles that the team hope to rectify before tomorrow’s races.

With lap records being broken in each of the sessions at Donington Park today, the new-for-2005 tyre from championship sponsor Dunlop attracted praise from some of the drivers after qualifying, including Matt Neal, who said: “These new tyres are great. There is a phenomenal amount of grip on them. Fair play, it is a great tyre.”