Simpson storms to dominant maiden BTCC pole

Honda driver Matt Simpson has produced a crushing performance to secure his first ever British Touring Car Championship pole position after dominating qualifying at Oulton Park.

The Honda Civic Type-R driver superbly translated his eye-catching practice form to clinch pole position ahead of Motorbase Performance duo Sam Tordoff and Tom Chilton by almost a quarter-of-a-second.

As predicted from practice, Simpson hit the front early during the 30-minute shootout to enjoy, at one point, almost a 0.5s advantage after producing a 1 minute 25.750 second lap.

Having set that scorching flier, Simpson's participation in the session looked in jeopardy after the Eurotech driver went off at the Island hairpin during his following lap and clipped the tyre barrier on the exit of the corner.

However, it mattered little, as while Simpson was able to continue with no damage to his car, his time at the top proved unbeatable with only Tordoff joining the Honda driver in the 1 minute 25s.

BMW Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan confirmed his promising practice was genuine after qualifying his West Surrey Racing prepared BMW 125i M Sport on the second row behind the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus RS machines.

Despite setting a purple sector during the dying minutes of the session, Matt Neal had to settle as the next best Honda in fifth, ahead of Eurotech's Jack Goff in sixth.

Brett Smith completed a three-car strong Honda freight train in seventh position behind his Civic Type-R stablemates, while James Cole ensured all three Motorbase Performance Fords made the top-ten order in eighth.

Team BMW's Colin Turkington ended his qualifying run in ninth, ahead of local hero and BTCC rookie Tom Oliphant in tenth.