Lightweight Neal puts Integra on pole

Reigning BTCC champion Matt Neal made up for his Brands Hatch qualifying disappointment by taking pole for tomorrow’s first race at Mondello Park.

Neal set a time of 1.45.333 in a qualifying session that was red flagged twice after mishaps for Martyn Bell and Fiona Leggate. Second on the grid, SEAT’s Jason Plato was unable to match the pace he showed in this morning’s second free practice session clocking a best lap of 1.45.388.

The same was true of James Thompson in the second SEAT Leon, carrying maximum ballast as a result of leading the championship after the opening meeting at Brands Hatch. The double champion set a time of 1.45.494 to line up third on the grid.

Polesitter Neal said, “I’m over the moon. I didn’t know if we’d get one of those this season with everything that’s been going on. We are light, but it’s a good way to start the weekend. The car is absolutely fantastic, so we’ll just have to see what the weather’s going to do tomorrow and see how long we can keep those yellow things behind us.”

Gordon Shedden ended the 30-minute session fourth fastest on his first visit to Mondello Park, making the two SEATs the meat in a Team Halfords sandwich. Next up was Colin Turkington in the first of the Team RAC MGs, and he will share the third row on the grid with the quickest Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, belonging to Fabrizio Giovanardi.

Row four features the second Vauxhall and MGs, with Tom Chilton and Rob Collard lining up seventh and eighth respectively. Gavin Smith was ninth quickest, while David Pinkney won the battle of the 2005 Integras by qualifying tenth in the Motorbase Performance car, with Mike Jordan 11th in his Team Eurotech machine.

A pair of Honda Civics fill 12th and 13th positions respectively, with James Kaye ahead of Mark Proctor. Fiona Leggate, first of the red flag causers starts round four from 14th. Jason Hughes was 15th while Martyn Bell starts right from the back in the Geoff Steel Racing BMW after going off track early in the session.

Sunday’s first race gets underway at 10:55AM, with live action on Motors TV (Sky Digital #413 & NTL cable) from 10:00.