Mikey Doble has broken NAPA Racing UK's season-long stronghold on the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) qualifying by bagging pole position in Silverstone, in the closest qualifying session in the competition's history. Rookie Doble, enjoying his first season in the BTCC, placed his #88 CarStore Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra ahead of the main title contenders to clinch his maiden pole position. This only served to build on an already-impressive display for the team after team-mates Andrew Watson and Aron Taylor-Smith set the two fastest times in FP2 earlier in the afternoon. The performance by all three drivers cements the Bidford-on-Avon outfit's success story this season. After the initial Q1 session, Laser Tools with MB Motorsport's Jake Hill topped the times for the second time today, after having already set the pace in FP1, followed closely by Taylor-Smith in second and reigning champion Tom Ingram in third. Mikey Doble appeared to be ecstatic with achieving fifth in the opening qualifying session, with ITV's Louise Goodman urging him to "go out there and do it again, if not better." With Q1 finishing with only 0.1s seperating all of the drivers who qualified for the Top Ten Showdown, the ten-minute spring in Q2 was already shaping up to be a memorable one. For NAPA Racing UK's championship front-runner Ash Sutton, it will be unfamiliar territory as he starts race one tomorrow from fifth on the grid, his lowest qualifying result all season and the first time this year that a NAPA Racing Ford Focus ST is not on pole position. Sutton placed highest of the three NAPA Racing UK drivers who battled it out in Q2, with Dan Cammish achieved seventh and Sam Osborne - flying the special Valvoline livery this weekend - rounding out the top ten. An impressive result was also attained by Team BMW's four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington as he will start alongside Doble on the front line after achieving the second-best lap, and admitted after the session that he had set his sights on a top-six finish. Toyota GAZOO Racing's Rory Butcher, who achieved pole at Silverstone the previous two seasons running, had to settle for ninth after having three laps disallowed during Q2 alone for track limit offences. The championship fight will be on from-the-off in race one tomorrow as the top four title contenders all start together in positions two through five on the grid, so gaining the best start off the line could hold the key to victory and a potential sway in the title battle. Independant Driver's championship leader Josh Cook (One Motorsport with Starline Racing) was notable by his absence in Q2 as he failed to make the top ten and will start from fifteenth on the grid, whilst closest rival Aron Taylor-Smith starts in eighth. Rounds 25, 26 and 27 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship take place at Silverstone tomorrow with all the action from the penultimate event of the season being screened live on ITV4 from 11:10am. Chris Tetreault-Blay
BTCC Journalist @ F1 Journal
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