Tom Ingram kicked off his 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship campaign in perfect fashion as he secured pole position with a sensationally quick time of 47.990 seconds in the Toyota Avensis.
Ingram, who topped the opening free practice session at Brands Hatch, fought off competition from reigning champion Gordon Shedden, the latter’s team-mate Matt Neal and strong showings from Sam Tordoff and series newcomer Ashley Sutton.
The session itself passed without incident for the 32 cars that headed out onto the Indy circuit to contest the thirty minute qualifying, although predicting the weather was anybody’s guess, with a constant threat of rain being reported from various points on the circuit.
Sutton’s team-mate, Josh Cook, completed a strong showing for the MG RCIB Insurance Racing squad by backing up his new team-mate in 6th. Aron Smith also made it a good first day at the office for Team BKR with a starting position of 10th.
Team BMR completed the session with their quartet of brand-new Subaru Levorg models, with Colin Turkington leading the line in 11th. Jason Plato clocked the 23rd fastest time, just over a second shy of Ingram, whilst Scott and Cole finished 27th and 29th respectively.
Ingram’s pole position is his maiden in the UK’s premier motorsport series and he will face stern opposition if he is to take a maiden race victory when the first round of the new season gets underway at 11:32.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM |  |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 26 | 47.990 | |
| 2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 48.053 | 0.063 |
| 3 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 29 | 48.101 | 0.111 | |
| 4 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 28 | 48.102 | 0.112 | |
| 5 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 25 | 48.131 | 0.141 | |
| 6 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 27 | 48.329 | 0.339 |
| 7 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 25 | 48.358 | 0.368 | |
| 8 | 31 | G | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 23 | 48.381 | 0.391 |
| 9 | 7 | C | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 28 | 48.396 | 0.406 |
| 10 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 27 | 48.442 | 0.452 | |
| 11 | 4 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 24 | 48.453 | 0.463 | |
| 12 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 48.473 | 0.483 |
| 13 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 48.516 | 0.526 | |
| 14 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 26 | 48.556 | 0.566 | |
| 15 | 11 | C | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 27 | 48.567 | 0.577 |
| 16 | 30 | M | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 26 | 48.620 | 0.630 |
| 17 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 23 | 48.663 | 0.673 | |
| 18 | 57 | Andy NEATE | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 48.673 | 0.683 | |
| 19 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 25 | 48.772 | 0.782 | |
| 20 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 25 | 48.884 | 0.894 | |
| 21 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 26 | 48.892 | 0.902 | |
| 22 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 26 | 48.952 | 0.962 | |
| 23 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 21 | 49.065 | 1.075 | |
| 24 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 29 | 49.078 | 1.088 | |
| 25 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 27 | 49.171 | 1.181 | |
| 26 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 27 | 49.242 | 1.252 | |
| 27 | 39 | Warren SCOTT | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 31 | 49.318 | 1.328 | |
| 28 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 26 | 49.328 | 1.338 | |
| 29 | 20 | James COLE | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 25 | 49.403 | 1.413 | |
| 30 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 23 | 49.992 | 2.002 | |
| 31 | 38 | M | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 28 | 50.119 | 2.129 |
| 32 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 19 | 50.568 | 2.578 |