Dan Lloyd claimed a crucial pole position for the TCR UK Touring Car Championship season finale at Donington Park, with chief title rival Ollie Taylor only fourth behind a WestCoast Racing 1-2-3.
Lloyd’s quickest time of 1:10.358 – the best of the weekend thus far around the 1.97 mile East Midlands circuit – proved enough to edge out team mate Andreas Backman and his sibling Jessica by around half a second apiece.
With Pyro Motorsport’s Taylor just fourth behind – and another 11 points for Lloyd’s championship effort with pole – the British Touring Car Championship race winner needs only a 6-point swing in the opening race to be crowned the series’ inaugural Champion.
Taylor – twice a race winner in 2018 at Castle Combe and Croft – will need to overturn the trio if he is to take the race down to the wire, with expected heavy rain set to potentially play into his favour on Sunday.
Stewart Lines rounded out the top five after a strong day for the CUPRA, with team mate Carl Swift eighth behind the Vauxhall Astra of Darelle Wilson and the second Pyro-run Honda Civic Type R FK7 of Finlay Crocker.
Lewis Kent put a frustrating warm-up and practice result behind him to put his Hyundai i30 N TCR into ninth, with the returning Josh Price rounding out the top ten.
Sean Walkinshaw’s difficult weekend behind the wheel of the Honda Civic FK2 continued, as he rounded out the field in 11th, a second adrift of Price as his nearest rival.
The penultimate race of the season is due to get underway at 13:15 BST tomorrow [14th October].
Qualifying result (race one grid)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 23 | Dan LLOYD |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 16 | 1:10.358 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 1:10.683 | 0.325 |
| 3 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 1:10.893 | 0.535 |
| 4 | 32 | Oliver TAYLOR | |
Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 16 | 1:11.157 | 0.799 |
| 5 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | CUPRA TCR V3 DSG | 19 | 1:11.649 | 1.291 |
| 6 | 50 | Darelle WILSON | |
DW Racing | Vauxhall Astra TCR | 16 | 1:11.746 | 1.388 |
| 7 | 8 | Finlay CROCKER | |
Verizon Connect Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 15 | 1:11.831 | 1.473 |
| 8 | 45 | Carl SWIFT | |
Maximum Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:11.895 | 1.537 |
| 9 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 1:11.920 | 1.562 |
| 10 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
JP Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 11 | 1:11.969 | 1.611 |
| 11 | 55 | Sean WALKINSHAW | |
Sean Walkinshaw Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 16 | 1:12.999 | 2.641 |
Second-fastest times reversed (race two grid)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 45 | Carl SWIFT | |
Maximum Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:13.034 | 2.579 |
| 2 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
JP Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 11 | 1:12.036 | 1.581 |
| 3 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 1:11.926 | 1.471 |
| 4 | 8 | Finlay CROCKER | |
Verizon Connect Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 15 | 1:11.898 | 1.443 |
| 5 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | CUPRA TCR V3 DSG | 19 | 1:11.789 | 1.334 |
| 6 | 50 | Darelle WILSON | |
DW Racing | Vauxhall Astra TCR | 16 | 1:11.785 | 1.330 |
| 7 | 32 | Oliver TAYLOR | |
Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 16 | 1:11.249 | 0.794 |
| 8 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 1:11.238 | 0.783 |
| 9 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 1:10.765 | 0.310 |
| 10 | 23 | Dan LLOYD | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 16 | 1:10.455 | – |
| 11 | 55 | Sean WALKINSHAW | |
Sean Walkinshaw Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 16 | 1:13.098 | 0.064 |