Laser Tools Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith scored his first pole position in more than a decade in the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park, beating NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish by a mere 0.009 seconds.

Taylor-Smith, who was in the second qualifying group, equalled the fastest lap time of the day, with an identical time to that posted by Aiden Moffat in the earlier practice session.

The Irishman had to work hard to get the top time, having earlier briefly gone quickest before having his lap deleted for exceeding track limits. However, on his next lap, Taylor-Smith posted a time of 1:24.213 to go quickest of all, whilst Cammish, who had been quickest in Group 1, had to settle for second.

Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble emerged as the top Audi driver in third, although fourth-placed Josh Cook was actually faster but starts a place behind as grid positions are assigned based on each driver’s respective position in each group.

Power Maxed Racing’s Dexter Patterson will line up in fifth for the qualifying race, whilst championship leader Ash Sutton was sixth – the NAPA Racing UK driver having had four lap times disallowed before he finally posted a time good enough for the third row of the grid.

Team VERTU duo Tom Chilton and Tom Ingram will start from seventh and eighth respectively, whilst the top ten grid positions are completed by Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan and Power Maxed’s Aiden Moffat.