Reigning champion Andrew Jordan has taken the first pole position of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.
The Pirtek Racing driver put in a 48.228 second lap with just over five minutes to go, pushing quickest man in practise Jason Plato down to second place.
A close knit pack sees eBay Motors’ Colin Turkington line up on the second row of the grid ahead of the Honda Civic Tourer of Matt Neal, with team mate Gordon Shedden in fifth.
BTCC debutant Tom Ingram impressed to qualify sixth ahead of tomorrow’s opening race – despite a last minute off at Paddock Hill Bend – with the Chrome Edition Restart Racing duo Aron Smith and Alain Menu in seventh and eight respectively.
Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson and the second eBay BMW of Rob Collard round out the top ten.
With the MSA’s stricter track limits rule in place, drivers were having their quickest times removed left, right and centre throughout the thirty minute session, with Aiden Moffat, Glynn Geddie, Jack Clarke and James Cole all coming under scrutiny.
Returning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi managed 18th on his first BTCC qualifying session for four years, with the time difference a mere 0.5 seconds between the top 16 runners.
Robb Holland had an unfortunate spin in the session, however was able to continue, with his Rotek Racing Audi A3 Saloon lining up 29th ahead of Ollie Jackson’s STP Racing Proton.
Jackson’s team mate Dan Welch will not be competing this weekend due to a parts issue resulting in his Proton not being ready in time.
The sun is set to shine over the circuit as the first of three races gets underway at 11:47 tomorrow.
If you are not at the circuit, you can watch all the coverage live from 10:30 on ITV4 or download the free Brands Hatch Live App on iTunes or Google Play. It features live timing, timetables and audio from the live circuit radio to keep you up to date throughout the day.
Qualifying Classification:
1) Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing)
2) Jason Plato (MG KX Tesco Fuel Save)
3) Colin Turkington (eBay Motors)
4) Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing)
5) Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing)
6) Tom Ingram (Speedworks Motorsport)
7) Aron Smith (Chrome Edition Restart Racing)
8) Alain Menu (Chrome Edition Restart Racing)
9) Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing)
10) Rob Collard (eBay Motors)
11-30: Austin, Tordoff, Foster, Morgan, Goff, Hynes, Depper, Giovanardi, Cole, Newsham, Abbott, Scott, Geddie, Wood, Belcher, Clarke, Moffatt, Holland, O Jackson. By Nikki Thompson , photos by Marc Waller
