Triple Eight’s Jason Plato dominated the qualifying at Snetterton to take a comfortable pole position and a set a new lap record, with a time more than 0.4 seconds faster than series leader Colin Turkington.

Plato set his best time of 1.56.495 on his first flying lap, and although it was around 0.3 seconds slower than he’d managed in second free practice, it was still more than good enough to top the times.

West Surrey Racing’s Turkington put in another stellar performance with full ballast on board, setting two laps good enough for the front row in the final ten minutes, and bumped Plato’s team-mate Sam Tordoff down to third.

Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal was fourth, after spending much of the session towing team-mate Gordon Shedden around the circuit, while Team BMR’s Alain Menu was a season’s best fifth.

Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram excelled again on his way to sixth on the grid, with Aron Smith, Adam Morgan, Mat Jackson and Jack Goff completing the top 10. Morgan and Jackson set identical laptimes, while Goff’s lap made it three Volkswagen CCs in the top 10.

The help from his team-mate proved to be in vain for Shedden, who could manage no better than 12th with 36kg of ballast on board. Another driver well out of position was Turkington’s team-mate Rob Collard, who was mired down in 19th with an apparent car problem.

The technical Snetterton layout caught out a number of drivers, with Goff and Glynn Geddie both having spins, and Lea Wood going off twice in the final minutes.

Rob Austin Racing’s Hunter Abbott stopped out on track after the chequered flag, while technical woes again prevented BTC Racing’s Chris Stockton setting a lap time in his Chevrolet Cruze.

Fabrizio Giovanardi qualified 24th, but will be relegated to the rear of the grid thanks to the penalty carried over from Croft.

Alongside the Italian at the back, if the medical staff allow, will be reigning champion Andrew Jordan, who was ruled out of qualifying after his shunt in free practice one.

However, he will be allowed to race from the tail of the field if he passes a further medical assessment tomorrow morning.