Darren Turner broke the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying lap record around Scotland’s National Motorsport Centre when he set a 53.007s (86.33mph) in his SEAT Sport UK Leon around the undulating 1.2713 mile Knockhill circuit.

Having set a time over one second quicker than Colin Turkington’s previous best (54.076s), Darren will start the first of three BTCC races tomorrow from pole – with Turkington (BMW) lining up alongside him.

Despite carrying the maximum 45kgs of success ballast in his SEAT Leon, BTCC leader Jason Plato will line up 4th on the grid, alongside local driver Gordon Shedden (Honda Civic) on row two, having set a time just 0.161s slower than his lighter team-mate.

Qualifying was run in cold conditions – with a strong wind, dark clouds overhead and an air temperature of just 16°C. Darren immediately topped the times with a 53.541s, before the 30 minute session was stopped after just eight minutes to allow a number of abandoned cars to be recovered from various parts of the circuit. When the session resumed, Darren set a better pole time on his second set of tyres (53.164s) and then cemented pole by going even faster and setting a 53.007s on his third and final set of new Dunlop tyres.

Jason banked a 53.666s early in the session, but found that it took four hot laps to get enough heat in his tyres and stop his car oversteering. He was in 5th, behind Fabrizio Giovanardi, until a brilliant lap near the end of the session saw him set a 53.499s to move up to 4th and ahead of his arch rival.

DRIVER QUOTES

Jason Plato: “Even though the success ballast means I’ve got the heaviest car on the grid, I’m two tenths quicker than Fabrizio Giovanardi and fourth on the grid – so I’m really happy. I put a good lap together – I can’t go around this circuit quicker in this car today, there really isn’t anything left. We’ve performed very well as a team today. In free practice Darren and I went in different directions in terms of set-up, and as his was better I used his set-up in for qualifying. I’m really pleased that Darren qualified on pole; that was a stellar lap.”

Darren Turner: “I’m very pleased, because I’ve been fast in both free practice sessions and now in qualifying. The car is working really well and whilst qualifying is all about putting in one good lap, it all looks extremely promising for race day tomorrow. Because of my position in the Championship I’ve got no extra weight, so I should be up at the front of the grid and ahead of Jason. I love coming to Scotland and I love racing at Knockhill, so you can definitely say I’m in a good mood this evening.”