Jack Goff storms ahead to take maiden pole position at Snetterton

With dry, overcast conditions surrounding the Snetterton 300 circuit this afternoon, Jack Goff secured his maiden pole position on pure merit for round 16, as the British Touring Car Championship made its return to racing after the customary six-week summer break.

The Eurotech Racing driver continued his good form from second free practice to post his best effort of a 1:55.786 around the 2.969-mile circuit with just seven minutes remaining in the 30-minute session. Team BMW UK’s Colin Turkington will line up alongside him on the front row for the first race tomorrow, with an effort that was 0.460 seconds slower than the Honda driver.

Ashley Sutton provided the best effort from the Subaru contingent in third, whilst Speedworks’ Tom Ingram completing the top four, who were separated by 0.877 seconds.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan put his Mercedes-Benz A-Class up into fifth, a further 0.013 seconds behind Ingram, whilst Rob Austin best effort with six minutes to go initially put him fourth. The Handy Motorsport driver had a sideways moment coming out of Riches on the very next lap that sent him into a 360-degree spin, compromising his later efforts in the session.

Andrew Jordan was also in the hunt for a top five spot on the grid for the first race of the weekend, but had to settle for seventh. Jason Plato’s herculean efforts in the dying seconds of qualifying putting his Subaru Levorg GT up into eighth, ahead of both Rob Collard and TAG Racing’s Jake Hill, with the pair completing the top ten.

Mike Epps missed out on the top ten by 0.010 seconds from Hill, but was faster that Motorbase’s Mat Jackson and Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat, with Team AMD’s Ant-Whorton Eales being the best of the Jack Sears Trophy contingent in 14th with his Audi S3.

Several drivers found some of their best lap times deleted by race control for exceeding track limits, which included Sutton, Morgan, Whorton-Eales and Subaru’s Josh Price, whilst both Matt Simpson and Stephen Jelley having their fair share of off-track excursions in the last five minutes. 

Simpson would spin off at Riches and hit the signage off the outside line of the corner, whilst Jelley’s Ford Focus suffered right front suspension damage in a seperate incident.

But the biggest drama was for the Halfords Yuasa pairing of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal, with the latter having his best time deleted for failing a ride height inspection halfway through the session, having posted the third fastest time at that point.

UPDATE: Neal subsequently had his best time reinstated after the team appealed the decision, giving him fourth for race one and dropping all drivers from Ingram to Smith down one position.

Shedden, who is running with maximum success ballast for the first race this weekend, was able to gradually improve through the latter stages of the session to as high as 16th place. But the defending champion and points leader will start from 20th tomorrow, with team mate Neal only managing as high as 23rd.

Race 16 of the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship gets underway tomorrow morning at 1137 local time, lasting for 12 laps.

Q1 results

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	31		Jack GOFF		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	9	1:55.786	0.000
2	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	13	1:56.246	0.460
3	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	13	1:56.375	0.589
4	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	12	1:56.663	0.877
5	33		Adam MORGAN		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	13	1:56.686	0.900
6	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	11	1:56.790	1.004
7	77	M	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	13	1:56.864	1.078
8	99	M	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	12	1:57.024	1.238
9	5	M	Rob COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	13	1:57.025	1.239
10	24		Jake HILL		TAG Racing	Volkswagen CC	12	1:57.057	1.271
11	12		Mike EPPS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	9	1:57.067	1.281
12	3		Mat JACKSON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	6	1:57.140	1.354
13	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	12	1:57.171	1.385
14	10		Ant WHORTON-EALES		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	11	1:57.191	1.405
15	2	M	Tom CHILTON		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	11	1:57.262	1.476
16	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	11	1:57.275	1.489
17	28	M	Josh PRICE		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	13	1:57.342	1.556
18	17		Dave NEWSHAM		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	12	1:57.368	1.582
19	66		Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	9	1:57.421	1.635
20	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	11	1:57.443	1.657
21	22		Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	13	1:57.449	1.663
22	39		Brett SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	11	1:57.462	1.676
23	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	9	1:57.564	1.778
24	303	M	Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	11	1:57.590	1.804
25	40	M	Árón TAYLOR-SMITH		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	10	1:57.661	1.875
26	20	M	James COLE		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	12	1:57.707	1.921
27	18	M	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	11	1:57.718	1.932
28	61		Will BURNS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	8	1:58.311	2.525
29	7		Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	10	1:58.406	2.620
30	30		Martin DEPPER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	11	1:58.805	3.019
31	95		Stewart LINES		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	12	2:00.751	4.965