The VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch made a dramatic race weekend debut at the opening round of the 2005 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park in a thrilling qualifying session. After trading times with team-mate Yvan Muller, VX Racing new recruit Colin Turkington grabbed pole, before sliding into the gravel on the outside of Redgate corner.

With the threat of rain ever-present, as soon as the lights went green Muller, Turkington and Gavin Smith took to the circuit in the three VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch cars. Muller was immediately on the pace; with his first lap almost as quick as the fastest lap time set during the morning's free practice sessions.

There was little to separate Muller and Turkington at the top and after a tyre change and some minor adjustments to the car, Muller posted a blistering lap to set the fastest time of the day so far. Turkington responded straight away to go faster by just three hundredths of a second and then went even quicker to stop the clocks at 1 min 12.092 seconds, with only 0.081 seconds separating the duo with one third of the session remaining.

During the closing stages, Turkington put on a new set of tyres and quickly rejoined the circuit, but in freezing temperatures and on cold tyres he was caught out on the entrance to Redgate corner and slid wide into the gravel trap, narrowly avoiding contact with the barrier. Turkington was unharmed by the slide, but the car's dangerous position necessitated a red flag while the VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch was removed.

With only three minutes, three seconds of the session remaining on the restart, the field dived out of the pit lane for a last-gasp shot at pole position. Turkington was forced to watch from the pit wall as Muller drove hard into the last corner, but couldn't better his time.

Smith was just behind Muller on the track, but a problem with the engine pistons early on in the session hampered his chances, and he was disappointed to finish in ninth position, a little over a second behind Turkington at the end of the session.

Turkington held onto pole, but Muller was narrowly pipped to second place by Matt Neal in the dying seconds of the session. The VX Racing team will line up for the opening round of the championship in pole, third and ninth position, and will be aiming to take an early lead in the championship to repeat the triple title-winning success of the last four years.

Colin Turkington
"The car was quick and we improved throughout the day. I just tried a bit too hard and I locked up at the first corner. I was pushing right on the limit, the tyres were not up to temperature and I went in a bit too hard. The cold tyres caught me out and so I had to sit out the last few minutes of the session. The car is good to drive, I'm happy with the progress we have made today and it's great to be on pole for my first race with VX Racing."

Yvan Muller
"I am disappointed because I think we could have done better, and we didn't. There were a number of factors that could have been improved for us to get the best out of the car. It is hard to be happy with third on the grid when there is still more to come and not everything is one hundred percent. Obviously we will work on getting everything right for tomorrow."

Gavin Smith
"There is a problem with the engine, one of the pistons is not working properly and so the car was misfiring from the start of the session. The team tried to sort it out during the red flag, but they didn't resolve it and are now looking a bit deeper. I've no doubt it will be fixed and ready to go tomorrow. I've just got to get through the field but I am fairly confident as we were close enough in the two practice sessions this morning. It's just a pity I couldn't follow it through to qualifying."

Qualifying results