Colin Turkington led a front-row lock-out for BMW and WSR in qualifying for this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship rounds at Snetterton.

On the eve of what’s set to be his 500th BTCC start, the Northern Irishman bagged his third pole position of 2022 and the 27th of his career; the four-time champion securing a crucial bonus point that increased his series lead to six points in intense heat in Norfolk.

Stablemate Jake Hill had been fastest in practice for ROKiT MB Motorsport and knocked Colin off the top spot in qualifying just before the halfway point of the 30-minute session.

But after encountering a slower car on his final run, he was unable to improve on his 1m55.870s lap and was overhauled by Colin’s Team BMW 330e M Sport with less than two minutes remaining as track temperatures reached 40 degrees.

Colin’s pole – which was achieved by just 0.065s – was his third in as many years at Snetterton and significantly gave WSR a third consecutive pole in the BTCC for the first time in the team’s long and illustrious history.

Jake’s best lap netted him second place on the grid is his fifth front-row start from the seven events held so far this season and keeps him just 15 points away from series leader Colin with 66 available from tomorrow’s three races.

Stephen Jelley, driving the second Team BMW 3 Series, ran consistently inside the top 10 in each of the earlier practice sessions, but found even more time in qualifying.

The Leicester racer was inside the top four throughout the critical timed session and equalled his best qualifying result of the season in third place, but rued a minor error on his first qualifying run that denied him a closer shot at pole.

Following the session Stephen was penalised one place on the grid for unintentionally impeding another car, dropping him to fourth on the grid for the first of tomorrow’s three races.

Colin Turkington (Team BMW) said: “It’s a great result. I really wasn’t expecting pole, but we’ve just gone up a notch on the set-up every single run and got the BMW into the sweet spot. We didn’t look so quick in practice, but that’s because I was saving my tyres for qualifying. Sometimes you just have to nudge the car in the right direction, be careful with the tyres in the warm-up phase and get the timing of the lap perfect, because that’s so critical. It’s so easy to start your hot lap with too much temperature or not enough. Run One was good, but we calmed the rear down a bit for the final run and found a couple of tenths. When you’re with a team like WSR that experience is there so you know you’re going to make the right calls with the car more often than not, and that’s really paid off today. We got it spot-on and I’m looking forward to what we might be able to achieve tomorrow.”

Jake Hill (ROKiT MB Motorsport) said: “It’s been a fantastic day for the whole team. That’s some effort from Colin to qualify on pole with no hybrid, and I did think I was going to pip him at the end, but I got too loose through Coram and Murray’s and that screwed me. I came across another car at Coram and I thought he was going to move and that just unsettled me a little. It’s a bit of a shame, but I can’t be too unhappy with second place and it’s a great result for the team. The hot temperatures are really helping us here because the rear-wheel-drive layout of the BMW really comes into its own when the conditions are like this. It’s a phenomenal job from ROKiT MB Motorsport and WSR and tomorrow we’ll go out to score every point we can.”

Stephen Jelley (Team BMW) said: “The day’s gone well, but I’m disappointed to start fourth, which I guess shows the level I expect to be performing at this year. Andy [Race Engineer] and I have been working on set-up a lot since the tyre test here and I’ve definitely picked up a few things from Jake and moved my driving style more towards his. It’s helped me to extract a bit more from myself and the BMW in the past two events, but today I made a small error at Turn Six on my first run which probably cost me two tenths and gave up what was potentially a pole lap. The penalty’s a shame, but I didn’t intentionally impede anyone; I’ve simply reacted to what two cars right in front of me have done. Even so, there’s still a podium at the very least on the table for tomorrow.”

Dick Bennetts, Team Principal said: “It’s been a fantastic day. To qualify one-two in a series as intensely competitive as the BTCC is such a difficult thing to do, so to have done it today – and with Colin and Jake so closely-matched – is thanks to an incredible effort by the whole team. It was, in fact, a one-two-three on laptimes before Stephen’s penalty… The heat today has affected everyone, but we’re as prepared as we can possibly be to deal with this tomorrow and give ourselves the best possible chance of taking at least one win, scoring a big helping of points and strengthening our championship position.”