Tom Ingram secures maiden pole position at season opener

Tom Ingram kicked off his 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship campaign in perfect fashion as he secured pole position with a sensationally quick time of 47.990 seconds in the Toyota Avensis.

Ingram, who topped the opening free practice session at Brands Hatch, fought off competition from reigning champion Gordon Shedden, the latter’s team-mate Matt Neal and strong showings from Sam Tordoff and series newcomer Ashley Sutton.

The session itself passed without incident for the 32 cars that headed out onto the Indy circuit to contest the thirty minute qualifying, although predicting the weather was anybody’s guess, with a constant threat of rain being reported from various points on the circuit.

Sutton’s team-mate, Josh Cook, completed a strong showing for the MG RCIB Insurance Racing squad by backing up his new team-mate in 6th. Aron Smith also made it a good first day at the office for Team BKR with a starting position of 10th.

Team BMR completed the session with their quartet of brand-new Subaru Levorg models, with Colin Turkington leading the line in 11th. Jason Plato clocked the 23rd fastest time, just over a second shy of Ingram, whilst Scott and Cole finished 27th and 29th respectively.

Ingram’s pole position is his maiden in the UK’s premier motorsport series and he will face stern opposition if he is to take a maiden race victory when the first round of the new season gets underway at 11:32.

Session results

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	80	M	Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	26	47.990
2	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Honda Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	23	48.053	0.063
3	25		Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	29	48.101	0.111
4	600		Sam TORDOFF		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	28	48.102	0.112
5	116		Ashley SUTTON		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	25	48.131	0.141
6	66	M	Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	27	48.329	0.339
7	33		Adam MORGAN		WIX Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	25	48.358	0.368
8	31	G	Jack GOFF		Team IHG Rewards Club	BMW 125i M Sport	23	48.381	0.391
9	7	C	Mat JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	28	48.396	0.406
10	40		Árón SMITH		BKR	Volkswagen CC	27	48.442	0.452
11	4		Colin TURKINGTON		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	24	48.453	0.463
12	100	C	Rob COLLARD		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	27	48.473	0.483
13	55		Jeff SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	48.516	0.526
14	77		Andrew JORDAN		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	26	48.556	0.566
15	11	C	Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	27	48.567	0.577
16	30	M	Martin DEPPER		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	26	48.620	0.630
17	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	23	48.663	0.673
18	57		Andy NEATE		Honda Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	19	48.673	0.683
19	24		Jake HILL		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	25	48.772	0.782
20	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD Tuning	Audi S3	25	48.884	0.894
21	53		Hunter ABBOTT		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	26	48.892	0.902
22	14		Alex MARTIN		Dextra Racing with Team Parker	Ford Focus	26	48.952	0.962
23	99		Jason PLATO		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	21	49.065	1.075
24	303		Matt SIMPSON		Speedworks Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	29	49.078	1.088
25	17		Dan WELCH		Goodestone Racing	Proton Persona	27	49.171	1.181
26	12		Mike EPPS		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	27	49.242	1.252
27	39		Warren SCOTT		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	31	49.318	1.328
28	22		Chris SMILEY		TLC Racing	Toyota Avensis	26	49.328	1.338
29	20		James COLE		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	25	49.403	1.413
30	95		Stewart LINES		Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	23	49.992	2.002
31	38	M	Mark HOWARD		BKR	Volkswagen CC	28	50.119	2.129
32	84		Kelvin FLETCHER		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	19	50.568	2.578

Complete session results