SEAT’s Darren Turner will start Sunday’s first race at Knockhill from pole position after securing the fastest time in qualifying. It looked set to be a fight between Turner and Shedden after the earlier free practice sessions, when the pair topped a session apiece.

When it came to qualifying, Turner had the edge, setting a best lap of 53.007 seconds. Team RAC’s Colin Turkington was able to split Turner and Shedden, lapping the Scottish circuit just under two-tenths of a second slower than Turner. Shedden ended the session third fastest. Meanwhile, championship rivals Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi will start together on the grid in fourth and fifth grid slots respectively.

The session was red flagged early on, when Tom Chilton collected the rear of BTCC debutant Alan Taylor’s Honda Integra, sending both cars of the track at the SEAT.

Taylor said, “I had pulled over to the left, off the racing line to let one of the SEATs through, when Tom just bumped me up the back. It’s absolutely crazy. What a welcome!”

Jason Plato was first on the scene of the bizarre clash and was lucky to avoid the damaged cars as he spun behind them. Neither Chilton nor Taylor played any further part in the session.

With the session restarted, the serious business could resume and it did not take Turner long to move to the top of the times. Shedden had a couple of laps that were extremely quick in the first two sectors, but he was unable to match the SEAT towards the end of the lap.

Turner said, “I’m really pleased with that. The car was really good and we put a good time in but then we had no more tyres, so we just had to play a waiting game at the end. Gordon [Shedden] was on a really quick lap up to the hairpin at the end of the session, but fortunately he wasn’t able to hook it up through the last part of the lap.”

Turner’s role on Sunday will clearly be one of assisting championship-chasing teammate Jason Plato wherever possible. “I think it’s fair to say that if Jason is within a couple of places and I can help him score some more points, then I will”, commented Turner. “So long as it doesn’t affect the Manufacturers’ championship, which is clearly the priority. If I was in a better position in the championship then it would be different, but as it is, I have to help Jason if I can.”