Darren Turner has maintained his record of all-top three qualifying places in the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship by putting his SEAT Sport UK Leon on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s Round 7 at Thruxton.

Having set the fastest time in both the morning’s free practice sessions, Darren beat the SEAT Sport UK team’s previous qualifying best time (a 1:17.567s set in 2005 by Jason Plato) by 0.064 seconds, setting a 1:17.503 on his first flying lap – which was just 0.027 seconds behind pole-sitter Fabrizio Giovanardi.

In gloriously hot and sunny conditions, Jason did a fantastic job to qualify in 7th place, 0.616 seconds behind Giovanardi, despite the Championship leader’s SEAT Leon carrying the maximum success ballast of 45kgs.

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Darren Turner: “I’m pleased that I’ve qualified in the top three in all the BTCC races this year, although I’m a little disappointed not to be on pole at Thruxton. My first flying lap was a bit of a banker, the second I aborted because of traffic and on my third run I had too much oversteer, which was caused by the tyre pressure rather than set-up. So my first flying lap counted, and even though I could have gone quicker, I’m pleased to be on the front row of the grid. We’re quick in the dry today, we were quick in the wet here last year, so no matter what the weather does on race day tomorrow, we’re looking in reasonable shape.”

Jason Plato: “That was the best we could do with maximum ballast, because the extra weight really hurts around Thruxton. With the new regulations we are actually 60kgs heavier than we were here last year, but our times are better, so I’m quite pleased. We’ve got a lot of speed in the corners and we are good under braking, but we haven’t got the most powerful engine and the Leon’s aero efficiency isn’t the best, so we lose out down the straights. Rain on race day would be very good, as we know the Leon is great in the wet and weight is less of a hindrance.”

BTCC Round 7 qualifying times

1. Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra)…1:17.476s
2. Darren Turner (SEAT Leon)…1:17.503s
3. Mike Jordan (Honda Integra)...1:17.708s
4. Tom Chilton (Vauxhall Vectra)…1:17.800s
5. Colin Turkington (BMW 320si)…1:17.906s
6. Gordon Shedden (Honda Civic)…1:18.023s
7. Jason Plato (SEAT Leon)…1:18.092s