Snetterton BTCC: Shedden smashes lap record to clinch pole

In an extremely tight session, Shedden's best lap of 1m55.627s was enough to pip Team BMR's Colin Turkington by 0.015s and Ciceley Racing's Adam Morgan by 0.028s.

It was also nearly half a second faster than Turkington's lap record of 1m56.047s, set in his Volkswagen CC in 2015.

It marked a spectacular change in fortunes for the reigning champion, who had seen his morning's running restricted by an engine change after first practice, and starts tomorrow's first race down in ninth in the standings.

Speedworks Motorsport's Tom Ingram continued his strong Snetterton form in fourth, with Motorbase Performance's Mat Jackson giving his team some cheer in fifth ahead of their 300th BTCC race.

Power Maxed Racing's Hunter Abbott was an impressive career-best sixth in his Chevrolet Cruze ahead of Team BKR's Aron Smith and Triple Eight Racing's Ash Sutton, with championship protagonists Matt Neal and Sam Tordoff rounding out the top 10.

Team Dynamics' Neal and West Surrey Racing's Tordoff enjoyed better fortunes than their closest title rivals, with Rob Collard down in 18th and Andrew Jordan 31st and last after power steering failure consigned him to watching the session in the pits.

Team BMR's Jason Plato was again left trailing in Turkington's wake in 13th, two places ahead of team-mate James Cole, with Jack Goff continuing his struggles from the morning down in 16th.

Shedden's best lap was set around the 13 minute mark, with Morgan appearing the most likely to challenge him.

The Mercedes driver continued to push later on in the session, closing the gap to less than half a tenth despite a couple of sideways moments.

Elsewhere, Eurotech Racing's Martin Depper stopped at Riches after a spin, while there were also off-track excursions for Warren Scott and Mark Howard.

Welch Motorsport's Dan Welch managed to turn his first laps of the weekend and qualified 24th, one place ahead of series returnee Michael Caine in the Team Hard Toyota Avensis.

Ian Gallagher / TouringCarTimes