Colin Turkington snatched pole position in the final stages of a dramatic qualifying session at this weekends British Touring Car Championship finale at Brands Hatch, edging out Tom Ingram by six thousandths of a second around the 2.43 mile venue.
Rob Austin claimed a notable and popular third in the sister Toyota Avensis of Handy Motorsport, with Turkington’s team-mate and fellow championship contender Jason Plato completing the second row.
The session proved to be a difficult one for the other six championship challengers on a record breaking weekend for the series in Kent, with the word ‘midfield’ becoming synonymous with the majority of the other title-hunting runners.
Best placed of those is defending champion Gordon Shedden, who managed to squeeze his Honda Civic Type R inside the top ten with eighth fastest, nearly half a second adrift of Turkington, whilst his works Honda team-mate and three time series winner Matt Neal recovered to scale the timesheets as far as 12th in the closing stages.
Standings leader Sam Tordoff held his BMW 125i M-Sport steady in the conditions to 11th, with Rob Collard recovering impressively from early mechanical woes to take 13th.
The Motorbase duo of Andrew Jordan and the ever-present Mat Jackson proved to be the biggest losers in the wet weather, dropping to 14th and 20th respectively.
The initial running saw Tom Ingram look set to take a second pole position of the season at Brands Hatch after starting first at the series opener back in April, though a red flag stoppage after Aron Smith rolled his Volkswagen CC, combined with the onset of rain, threw several variables into an already tense situation.
The BKR driver went off into the gravel heading into Hawthorns at an angle, which pitched the car into a three-quarter roll before it eventually came to a rest on it’s roof. Smith appeared unharmed in the aftermath of the incident, though he dropped to 24th by the session’s conclusion.
In hindsight, the rain seemed inevitable. The clouds above Brands Hatch became darker with each passing moment after the green light signalled the start of the half-hour session, and the two factors combined to leave several title contenders stuck in the pit lane, and fearing the worst.
The most prominent of which was Rob Collard. Collard, who has only to add a pole position and a maiden title to his decorated CV in the series, suffered a gear selection problem on his BMW as he exited the pit lane at the start of the session and was forced to cut back into the pit lane via the Indy configuration of the circuit to give his WSR engineers more time to solve the issue. He will be pleased with 13th, given the circumstances.
Though the rain initially meant nobody could improve their lap times when the green flag was waved to restart qualifying, the effect of 30 NGTC machines clearing the water soon meant a dry line not only emerged, but proved a potent weapon in the final ten minutes.
The order changed with every passing moment from thereon in. All of the title contenders, most notably Turkington and Plato, were able to better themselves. Hunter Abbott also put in his best ever qualifying result amid the chaos to go fifth. Ashley Sutton fell foul not once, but twice, to track limits and will start behind his Jack Sears Trophy rival Michael Epps for race one. Aiden Moffat was also called out by the stewards, but he recovered to 10th by the end.
Pole position for Turkington means he gains a crucial point and moves to thirty-six points behind Sam Tordoff heading into the final day tomorrow, though it will still prove a big ask for the Ulsterman to take a third championship crown. The standard has definitely been set, as far as the drama is concerned, though.
The first race starts at 11:32 tomorrow, with live coverage availble via ITV4. TouringCars.net will be trackside throughout Finals Day to bring you the latest news first hand as it happens.
EDITORS NOTE: Tom Ingram subsequently had all of his lap times disallowed for failing the post-qualifying ride-height check, and will thus start race one from the back of the grid in 31st position.
Qualifying times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 1:31.838 | |
| 2 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 1:32.052 | 0.214 | |
| 3 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:32.059 | 0.221 |
| 4 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:32.066 | 0.228 | |
| 5 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 15 | 1:32.096 | 0.258 |
| 6 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:32.204 | 0.366 |
| 7 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:32.320 | 0.482 |
| 8 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 11 | 1:32.391 | 0.553 | |
| 9 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:32.581 | 0.743 | |
| 10 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:32.687 | 0.849 |
| 11 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:32.857 | 1.019 |
| 12 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 1:32.980 | 1.142 |
| 13 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 10 | 1:33.085 | 1.247 | |
| 14 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 1:33.095 | 1.257 | |
| 15 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 11 | 1:33.099 | 1.261 |
| 16 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 14 | 1:33.379 | 1.541 | |
| 17 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:33.401 | 1.563 | |
| 18 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:33.416 | 1.578 | |
| 19 | 7 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 12 | 1:33.563 | 1.725 | |
| 20 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:33.903 | 2.065 | |
| 21 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 1:34.085 | 2.247 |
| 22 | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:34.564 | 2.726 |
| 23 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 3 | 1:34.738 | 2.900 | |
| 24 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:34.793 | 2.955 | |
| 25 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:34.968 | 3.130 | |
| 26 | 34 | Tony GILHAM | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:35.822 | 3.984 | |
| 27 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 13 | 1:35.879 | 4.041 | |
| 28 | 38 | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 10 | 1:36.888 | 5.050 | |
| 29 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 10 | 1:37.529 | 5.691 | |
| 30 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 15 | 1:38.266 | 6.428 | |
| 31 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 11 | 1:31.844* | 0.006* |
* Times disallowed.