Mat Jackson secured a third qualifying pole in as many British Touring Car Championship events at Brands Hatch, beating the Team BMR Volkswagen CC of Aron Smith and Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan in a frenetic session.
Jackson’s lap – which set a new record – was an impressive effort, but for a second weekend in a row it was the Honda of Gordon Shedden who arguably provided the best performance of the session to drag his ballast-laden Honda to fourth.
Jackson had avoided the headlines in the day’s earlier practice sessions, but stormed to the top of the timesheets with a 1:30.725s in his Ford Focus.
While others improved, Jackson remained untouchable and put a third straight pole beyond doubt when he improved late on with a 1:30.685s.
Smith ended up second after his earlier effort was deleted for exceeding track limits, while Morgan, who set the pace in first practice, was third in his Mercedes A-Class.
With fourth, however, Shedden placed himself the best of all of those still vying for the championship, just clear of Colin Turkington and Jason Plato despite carrying 75 kilograms of ballast in his Civic Type-R.
Shedden will be without immediate support in race one, however, with team-mate Matt Neal four places further back in fourth. He will be separated from the Team BMR chargers by Tom Ingram on tomorrow’s grid, the Speedworks driver producing a fine performance to grab seventh.
Ninth went to Andy Priaulx, the best-placed of the West Surrey Racing drivers, while Josh Cook completed the top ten. The returning Alain Menu will start his first competitive BTCC race in a year inside the points, from 15th.
Race one gets underway at 11:32 BST.
Qualifying times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 4 | Mat JACKSON |  |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:30.685 | ||
| 2 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:30.811 | 0.126 | |
| 3 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 15 | 1:30.898 | 0.213 | |
| 4 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:30.901 | 0.216 |
| 5 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:30.945 | 0.260 | |
| 6 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:31.033 | 0.348 | |
| 7 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:31.041 | 0.356 | |
| 8 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:31.088 | 0.403 |
| 9 | 111 | C | Andy PRIAULX | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:31.106 | 0.421 |
| 10 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 14 | 1:31.145 | 0.460 | |
| 11 | 31 | M | Jack GOFF | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 14 | 1:31.159 | 0.474 |
| 12 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 14 | 1:31.194 | 0.509 | |
| 13 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 15 | 1:31.244 | 0.559 |
| 14 | 7 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:31.466 | 0.781 |
| 15 | 9 | Alain MENU |  |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:31.578 | 0.893 | |
| 16 | 44 | James COLE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 15 | 1:31.646 | 0.961 | |
| 17 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 15 | 1:31.677 | 0.992 | |
| 18 | 6 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:31.771 | 1.086 |
| 19 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 15 | 1:31.885 | 1.200 | |
| 20 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
AmD Tuning.com | Ford Focus | 14 | 1:31.909 | 1.224 | |
| 21 | 54 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 16 | 1:31.950 | 1.265 | |
| 22 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:31.954 | 1.269 | |
| 23 | 29 | Jake HILL | |
AmD Tuning.com | Audi S3 | 14 | 1:32.038 | 1.353 | |
| 24 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing | Ford Focus | 15 | 1:32.329 | 1.644 | |
| 25 | 101 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 16 | 1:32.930 | 2.245 | |
| 26 | 18 | Tony GILHAM | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 1:33.160 | 2.475 | |
| 27 | 22 | Derek PALMER Jr | |
Support Our Paras Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 1:33.403 | 2.718 | |
| 28 | 11 | Simon BELCHER | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:33.803 | 3.118 | |
| 29 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Houseman Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:34.062 | 3.377 | |
| 30 | 13 | Dan WELCH | |
Welch Motorsport | Proton Gen-2 | 13 | 1:34.162 | 3.477 |