Tom Ingram scored the seventh pole position of his career in the British Touring Car Championship in a drizzle-affected qualifying session at Donington Park.
The new qualifying format for 2024 saw the session split into four distinct parts over more than an hour, and it was the EXCELR8 Motorsport driver who prevailed, having topped all bar one of the on-track sessions he took part in on Saturday.
Drivers were split into two groups based on their position in Free Practice 2, and the first session was the most affected by the weather, with drivers having to decide between slicks or wets in the ten-minute session.
It was Toyota’s Andrew Watson and BMW’s Adam Morgan who traded the top times early on, but only the former would get into the top six which could proceed into Q2, as Morgan ended up in seventh and missed the cut – which based on the combined times puts him down in 16th for the opening race.
NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish thought he had posted a time good enough to proceed, but as the circuit dried, his team made a last-minute decision to send him back out, and ultimately he didn’t have enough time to complete a lap, leaving him to start race one from 17th.
Also failing to progress from the first session were Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat (18th) and EXCELR8’s Nick Halstead (19th).
Before the Group 2 session began in anger, there was drama as Toyota’s Rob Huff was prevented from even partaking in the session, his team having failed to have his car ready before the official start of qualifying for Group 1 earlier due to repairing second practice damage to his car.
As such, the 2012 World Champion didn’t get to post a time and will start from last.
Progressing from Group 2 were BMW’s Colin Turkington and Jake Hill, an impressive effort from Unlimited Motorsport’s Daryl DeLeon, NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton, Speedworks’ Josh Cook and Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley.
The four drivers who missed the cut still posted faster times than those in Group 1 due to the drier track conditions, giving EXCLER8’s Tom Chilton 13th overall, NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom 14th, and Restart’s Scott Sumpton 15th.
The combined fastest 12 cars then proceeded into Q2, and this time it was Ash Sutton who was fastest, by 0.079 seconds from Ingram – which would ultimately turn out to be the only time Ingram was beaten on Saturday.
In Q3, with the top six having one final ten-minute session for pole, it was Ingram who secured the top spot for race one’s grid, lapping in 1 minute 7.845 seconds, half a tenth ahead of Sutton.
BMW’s Colin Turkington was third, three tenths back, ahead of stablemate Jake Hill in fourth in the Laser Tools Racing 3 Series.
EXCELR8’s Ronan Pearson put in a career-best qualifying performance with fifth, and Toyota’s Andrew Watson did likewise in sixth.
Missing out on getting beyond Q2 was Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith in seventh, ahead of Speedworks’ Cook in eighth, the Toyota driver clearly unhappy about failing to get into Q3.
DeLeon was an impressive ninth, with PMR’s Mikey doble completing the top ten in his Vauxhall.
Sam Osborne caused a red flag in Q2 when he crashed into the tyres on the exit of the Old Hairpin, ending up 11th overall, ahead of Restart Racing’s Smiley in 12th.
Race one gets underway at 11:30 BST on Sunday.
Quick Six results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 |  |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 8 | 1:07.845 | – |
| 2 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 8 | 1:07.896 | 0.051 |
| 3 | 20 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 9 | 1:08.160 | 0.315 |
| 4 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 8 | 1:08.220 | 0.375 |
| 5 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 7 | 1:08.621 | 0.776 |
| 6 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 7 | 1:08.837 | 0.992 |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 8 | 1:08.020 | – |
| 2 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 8 | 1:08.099 | 0.079 |
| 3 | 20 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 9 | 1:08.417 | 0.397 |
| 4 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 9 | 1:08.456 | 0.436 |
| 5 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 8 | 1:08.802 | 0.782 |
| 6 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 8 | 1:08.924 | 0.904 |
| 7 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 8 | 1:08.927 | 0.907 |
| 8 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 8 | 1:09.085 | 1.065 |
| 9 | 18 |  |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 9 | 1:09.094 | 1.074 |
| 10 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 8 | 1:09.211 | 1.191 |
| 11 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 5 | 1:10.149 | 2.129 |
| 12 | 222 | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 8 | 1:10.753 | 2.733 |
Q1 Group 2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 20 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 7 | 1:08.772 | – |
| 2 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 7 | 1:09.412 | 0.640 |
| 3 | 18 | |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 7 | 1:09.469 | 0.697 |
| 4 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 6 | 1:09.579 | 0.807 |
| 5 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 7 | 1:09.710 | 0.938 |
| 6 | 222 | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 6 | 1:10.885 | 2.113 |
| 7 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 6 | 1:12.424 | 3.652 |
| 8 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 7 | 1:15.457 | 6.685 |
| 9 | 29 | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 8 | 1:15.548 | 6.776 |
| 10 | 12 | |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 0 | No time | N/A |
Q1 Group 1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 5 | 1:14.512 | – |
| 2 | 40 | |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 5 | 1:15.043 | 0.531 |
| 3 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 6 | 1:16.170 | 1.658 |
| 4 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 4 | 1:17.355 | 2.843 |
| 5 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 6 | 1:17.932 | 3.420 |
| 6 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 6 | 1:18.819 | 4.307 |
| 7 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 7 | 1:18.895 | 4.383 |
| 8 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 5 | 1:25.645 | 11.133 |
| 9 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 4 | 1:26.156 | 11.644 |
| 10 | 22 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 1 | No time | N/A |