Mat Jackson records third straight pole

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

Complete session results