Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith claimed a maiden pole position at the British Touring Car Championship’s season finale at Brands Hatch.
His best lap of 1:30.537, set on his second run, proved enough to eclipse Team Dynamics racer and early pace-setter Dan Cammish by 0.043 seconds, with a late red flag for Rory Butcher’s crashed MG on the exit of Westfield aborting the final flying laps of the session.
Honda’s supremacy on the 2.4 mile Grand Prix loop was underlined with Civic Type R machinery – both FK2 and FK8 – occupying the top five positions.
Smith and Cammish’s team mates Matt Neal and Jack Goff took third and fourth respectively, with Daniel Lloyd rounding out the top five for BTC Norlin Racing.
Title contenders Colin Turkington and Tom Ingram struggled with heavy quotas of success ballast on board to 17th and 19th respectively, the latter 34 points clear going into tomorrow’s season-closing triple header.
Senna Proctor and Sam Tordoff were split by the best part of a tenth of a second as the leading Power Maxed and Motorbase cars, the pair aiming to add to their respective win tallies before the end of the campaign.
Smiley eventually wound up eighth after having a lap time disallowed for track limits, with Aiden Moffat ninth.
Outgoing Champion Ash Sutton put his Team BMR-run Subaru Levorg into tenth after a re-build of the front end following a heavy crash and brake failure at Paddock Hill Bend during second practice.
Team-mate Jason Plato was 13th behind BMW duo Ricky Collard and Andrew Jordan, with Rob Austin and the final title contender Tom Chilton rounding out the top fifteen.
The opening race of the weekend gets underway at 11:35 BST tomorrow [30th September].
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 39 | Brett SMITH |  |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:30.537 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:30.580 | 0.043 |
| 3 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:30.725 | 0.188 |
| 4 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:30.773 | 0.236 | |
| 5 | 26 | Daniel LLOYD | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:30.775 | 0.238 | |
| 6 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 1:30.847 | 0.310 |
| 7 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:30.886 | 0.349 | |
| 8 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:30.895 | 0.358 | |
| 9 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 14 | 1:30.915 | 0.378 | |
| 10 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 13 | 1:30.919 | 0.382 |
| 11 | 55 | M | Ricky COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:30.978 | 0.441 |
| 12 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:30.999 | 0.462 |
| 13 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 1:31.111 | 0.574 |
| 14 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 14 | 1:31.123 | 0.586 | |
| 15 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 14 | 1:31.125 | 0.588 | |
| 16 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 15 | 1:31.140 | 0.603 | |
| 17 | 2 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:31.164 | 0.627 |
| 18 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 14 | 1:31.169 | 0.632 | |
| 19 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 13 | 1:31.224 | 0.687 | |
| 20 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 14 | 1:31.302 | 0.765 | |
| 21 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 13 | 1:31.308 | 0.771 | |
| 22 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 13 | 1:31.349 | 0.812 | |
| 23 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 1:31.393 | 0.856 |
| 24 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:31.464 | 0.927 | |
| 25 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 13 | 1:31.702 | 1.165 | |
| 26 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:31.755 | 1.218 | |
| 27 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 1:31.807 | 1.270 | |
| 28 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 14 | 1:32.060 | 1.523 | |
| 29 | 32 | Ethan HAMMERTON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 1:32.255 | 1.718 | |
| 30 | 43 | Ollie PIDGLEY | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 1:32.531 | 1.994 | |
| 31 | 54 | Josh CAYGILL | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 14 | 1:33.294 | 2.757 |