Aron-Taylor-Smith splashes to BTCC pole position at Silverstone

Aron Taylor-Smith produced a superb lap in British Touring Car Championship qualifying to claim pole position at Silverstone.

The Power Maxed Racing mastered the wet conditions to make it back-to-back poles for the Vauxhall Astra squad, while it was his first in the UK’s premier motorsport series since 2015 at Thruxton.

EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was the fastest of the title contenders as he hustled his Hyundai i30 N to second place while the second Vauxhall of Mikey Doble completed the top three.

Qualifying commenced in dry conditions at the Northamptonshire venue with the opening two groups lapping up the best of the track conditions, setting a frenetic pace that saw a number of drivers dip under the lap record.

Free practice pace-setter Tom Chilton was unfortunately one of the early casualties as he failed to progress and he was joined on the sidelines for the remainder of the session by reigning champion and title contender Ash Sutton.

As Q2 began, the heavens opened and teams soon found themselves scrambling to bolt on wet tyres and make the necessary ride-height changes to cars.

Following a hectic session, points leader Jake Hill found himself the next high-profile name to fall out of contention as he could only muster ninth behind Dan Cammish and Andrew Watson.

With conditions not improving, Taylor-Smith – who had snapped his gearstick earlier in the session – wasted no time in powering to the top of the times while Ingram closed to within less than a tenth of a second.

Doble would also get close but settled for third while Colin Turkington led the BMW charge in fourth, ahead of Josh Cook and the impressive Dan Zelos, who is back in the Hyundai for a second meeting.

Race one on Sunday at Silverstone is scheduled to get underway at 11:30.