Ashley Sutton set a new qualifying lap record en route to pole position ahead of the first British Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park.
The rising star set a blistering 1:09.412 to secure his first pole for Team BMR’s Subaru outfit and eclipse a similarly impressive Rob Austin, who backed up his pace in free practice with a slot on the front row, 0.102 seconds adrift.
“Obviously you always come here to get on pole and to achieve that is a bonus,” said Sutton.
“I can’t fault the guys, they’ve worked day and night every single day of the week since Brands, they’re absolutely shattered so it’s nice to reward them with a pole position and hopefully some good results.”
“Fingers crossed, that’ll be the main aim. We’ve got no weight, so let’s push on from there and see what we can do.”
Jack Goff was another to top the timesheets in practice and secured third, whilst Tom Ingram continued his qualifying form from Brands Hatch to secure fourth in the heavily ballast-laden Toyota Avensis for Speedworks.
Aiden Moffat rounded out the top five ahead of Jake Hill, who completed a strong day for Team.HARD alongside team-mate Mike Epps in ninth.
Honda failed to set a competitive time during either practice session and could only manage seventh and eighth in the Type R, with the ever-consistent Adam Morgan tenth.
BMW lamented their luck after a water leak for Colin Turkington’s 1-series brought out the red flags with six minutes to run. The double champion’s session was curtailed early by the damage, whilst the liquid on circuit at Coppice sent Ingram, Shedden, Matt Simpson and James Cole heading wide into the gravel. Everyone managed to recover safely to the pit lane under their own speed.
Rob Collard and Andrew Jordan rounded out WSR’s manufacturer effort in 15th and 16th.
Tom Chilton ended the session as the highest placed Vauxhall in 14th, whilst another likely contender, Mat Jackson, languished in 20th.
Jason Plato demonstrated BMR still have some wounds to heal, placing his Subaru Levorg GT in 17th as the strongest showing among Sutton’s team-mates.
The opening race of the weekend starts tomorrow at 11:37.
Qualifying times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON |  |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:09.412 | |
| 2 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 20 | 1:09.514 | 0.102 | |
| 3 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:09.555 | 0.143 | |
| 4 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 1:09.710 | 0.298 | |
| 5 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:09.728 | 0.316 | |
| 6 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 1:09.737 | 0.325 | |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:09.753 | 0.341 |
| 8 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:09.803 | 0.391 |
| 9 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 1:09.819 | 0.407 | |
| 10 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 20 | 1:09.907 | 0.495 | |
| 11 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:09.933 | 0.521 | |
| 12 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 1:09.939 | 0.527 |
| 13 | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 1:09.957 | 0.545 |
| 14 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:09.995 | 0.583 |
| 15 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 21 | 1:09.998 | 0.586 |
| 16 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 21 | 1:10.032 | 0.620 |
| 17 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 1:10.042 | 0.630 |
| 18 | 23 | M | Daniel LLOYD | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 17 | 1:10.149 | 0.737 |
| 19 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:10.194 | 0.782 | |
| 20 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:10.205 | 0.793 | |
| 21 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 17 | 1:10.211 | 0.799 |
| 22 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 1:10.250 | 0.838 | |
| 23 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:10.290 | 0.878 |
| 24 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 1:10.315 | 0.903 | |
| 25 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 1:10.395 | 0.983 |
| 26 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 17 | 1:10.427 | 1.015 | |
| 27 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 17 | 1:10.492 | 1.080 | |
| 28 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 20 | 1:10.668 | 1.256 | |
| 29 | 300 | Luke DAVENPORT | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 19 | 1:10.675 | 1.263 | |
| 30 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
BMR Racing Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 1:10.691 | 1.279 |
| 31 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 16 | 1:10.697 | 1.285 | |
| 32 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 19 | 1:10.708 | 1.296 |