Butcher takes impressive maiden BTCC pole position

Home hero Rory Butcher has clinched a first ever British Touring Car Championship pole position after producing a dominant performance in qualifying at Knockhill.

Butcher has been in scintillating form from the word go this morning after topping both practice sessions prior to the 30-minute qualifying shootout and AmD Cobra Sport driver successfully translated that practice promise into an emphatic first ever BTCC pole ahead of Honda's Dan Cammish.

Having been compromised by a red flag earlier in the session, Butcher was yet to set a time as the session neared its halfway point but shot to the top of the timesheets after setting a 50.6s lap, despite hitting traffic on the final hairpin.

Crucially, Butcher would go on to take off a further 0.2s off with an eventual 50.451s lap, which re-established the cushion he's enjoyed over the rest of the pack for the entire day.

BMW Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan produced a strong lap with 48 kilos on board his 3 Series to line up third for the opening race alongside Motorbase Performance's Tom Chilton in fourth.

Chilton set the fastest final sector of all but was ultimately unable to rise any higher than fourth.

Senna Proctor posted his best qualifying effort of the season so far with the fifth fastest time, marginally ahead of championship leader Colin Turkington in sixth.

Turkington starts only three places his main title rival Jordan despite carrying full championship ballast.

Tom Oliphant follows his Team BMW team mate in seventh, while Adam Morgan, Chris Smiley and Matt Neal completed the remainder of the top-ten grid order in eighth, ninth and tenth.