Sutton takes maiden Infiniti BTCC pole position

Laser Tools Racing's Ash Sutton has secured the Infiniti Q50 machine's first ever British Touring Car Championship pole position after narrowly beating MB Motorsport's Jake Hill in qualifying at Knockhill.

Sutton went into qualifying for Sunday's first race carrying 54 kilos of success ballast, but produced a sensational effort to edge the time set by Hill by just 0.053s around the infamous Scottish circuit.

Pole position for Sutton means the Infiniti driver will head into race one a point closer to championship leader Colin Turkington after gaining the extra point for qualifying on pole.

Despite carrying the full 60 kilos of success ballast, defending four-time champion Turkington qualified just two-positions below his closest title rival in third.

The Team BMW driver produced a lap within the same tenth of Sutton's pole time. Turkington is joined on the second row by Honda's Dan Cammish in fourth.

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK's Tom Ingram will start race one from fifth on the grid, alongside home hero Rory Butcher in sixth. Butcher goes into the opening race sitting third in the drivers' standings, 43-points back from leader Turkington.

Mike Bushell marked his second outing with the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall squad by setting the seventh fastest time in qualifying ahead of local man Aiden Moffat in eighth.

Eighth for Moffat represents the Laser Tools Racing driver's strongest qualifying performance so far this season on home turf.

Honda's Matt Neal had originally set the eighth fastest time, but the former three-time champion suffered a heavy shunt during the 30-minute shootout, which triggered a red-flag.

The Team Dynamics driver had to then rely on his second fastest time, which was good enough for ninth, after his fastest time was deleted for the red-flag incident.

Team BMW's Tom Oliphant rounded out the top-ten grid order in tenth.