Matt Neal has claimed pole position for this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship meeting at Thruxton, and with team-mate Gordon Shedden alongside Honda have locked out the front row.
Neal fastest time, a 1:16.040, gave him a narrow 0.035 second advantage over defending champion Shedden, the latter of the two Honda Civic Type Rs laden with a full quota of 75 kilograms of success ballast.
Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff cemented his form during both free practice sessions with third ahead of current championship leader Tom Ingram.
Goff’s team-mate, Jeff Smith, caused a red flag stoppage with five minutes remaining after he clouted the kerb on the inside of Allard on a flying lap, headed onto the grass and spun the car into the opposite barrier.
Despite the incident, Smith lined up seventh behind Rob Austin and Adam Morgan.
That led to a flurry of quick-fire lap times at the end of the session, but nobody was able to match the pace of either works Honda during their second runs.
Honda elected not to send their drivers out during the final exchanges, electing to save tyres for Sunday’s triple-header of contests.
Aron Taylor-Smith and Josh Cook both exited the circuit at Noble, the former brushing the barriers with the front of his MG6 whilst Thruxton instructor Cook skirted his Ford Focus across the grass. Both rejoined.
Any efforts to overturn the Honda duo was curtailed as Josh Price’s Subaru Levorg GT halted out on circuit, bringing out yellow flags.
The top ten would be initially completed by Tom Chilton, Ashley Sutton as the fastest of the rear-wheel drive runners and BMW’s Colin Turkington.
However, Chilton later had his best lap time removed, dropping the Power Maxed Vauxhall driver by three positions to 11th.
Qualifying times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL |  |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:16.040 | |
| 2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:16.075 | 0.035 |
| 3 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 1:16.200 | 0.160 | |
| 4 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:16.236 | 0.196 | |
| 5 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 22 | 1:16.377 | 0.337 | |
| 6 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:16.395 | 0.355 | |
| 7 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:16.494 | 0.454 | |
| 8 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:16.588 | 0.548 |
| 9 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 19 | 1:16.622 | 0.582 |
| 10 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:16.640 | 0.600 | |
| 11 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 1:16.648 | 0.608 |
| 12 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:16.653 | 0.613 | |
| 13 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:16.656 | 0.616 |
| 14 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 1:16.702 | 0.662 |
| 15 | 300 | Luke DAVENPORT | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 19 | 1:16.742 | 0.702 | |
| 16 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 1:16.864 | 0.824 |
| 17 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:16.934 | 0.894 | |
| 18 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 21 | 1:16.962 | 0.922 |
| 19 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 18 | 1:16.966 | 0.926 | |
| 20 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 1:16.974 | 0.934 | |
| 21 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 1:17.039 | 0.999 |
| 22 | 17 | David NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 14 | 1:17.060 | 1.020 | |
| 23 | 40 | M | Árón SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 13 | 1:17.130 | 1.090 |
| 24 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 1:17.248 | 1.208 | |
| 25 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 18 | 1:17.252 | 1.212 | |
| 26 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 23 | 1:17.255 | 1.215 |
| 27 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 18 | 1:17.283 | 1.243 | |
| 28 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 19 | 1:17.451 | 1.411 | |
| 29 | 23 | M | Daniel LLOYD | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 1:17.460 | 1.420 |
| 30 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 1:17.571 | 1.531 | |
| 31 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 21 | 1:17.767 | 1.727 | |
| 32 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
BMR Racing Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 19 | 1:18.172 | 2.132 |