Jordan takes pole in chaotic Croft qualifying

BMW Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan has claimed pole position for Sunday's first race following a bizarre British Touring Car Championship qualifying session at Croft.

In a session which was hit by no fewer than five red-flags, Jordan took his first BTCC pole position in over five-years despite being the driver who brought out the final red flag with six-minutes to go.

Although Jordan found himself at the top of the timesheets for the majority of the running, exactly half of the 30-car field failed to set a time during the opening half of the session, thanks to three red flag periods within a 15 minute window.

Barriers situated on the apex of the Jim Clark Esses kept moving onto the racing line following a series of hits from multiple cars, which meant the session had to be halted on each occasion as the marshals returned the barriers to where they should be.

A further shunt involving the joint championship leader Rory Butcher delayed the session further, which effectively created a 12-minute shootout to determine much of the grid order.

However, the weather then threw a further spanner into the works as rain began to fall onto the circuit as the marshals recovered Butcher's heavily damaged Honda Civic Type-R.

Mercifully, for the remainder of the field, the rain failed to significantly dampen the circuit during that stage of the running, which allowed the times to improve for a brief period.

That proved pivotal in Jordan's quest for pole position as the BMW driver managed to set a series of laps, which extended his advantage at the head of the field.

Jordan produced a 1'21.663 on his final flying lap, but that time was subsequently deleted after the BMW driver picked up a puncture and fell off the circuit during the final sector of the lap.

Crucially, Jordan's second fastest was still good enough to secure pole position ahead of BTC Racing's Chris Smiley and Motorbase Performance's Tom Chilton in second and third.

Colin Turkington and Tom Oliphant ensured all three West Surrey Racing BMWs made the top-five order in fourth and fifth. Turkington will be looking to take full advantage of his chief rival Butcher's qualifying error from the second row.