Jeff Smith claimed a shock first career pole position in changeable conditions at Brands Hatch ahead of the opening three rounds of this years British Touring Car Championship.
Smith, who set a fastest lap time of 48.367 seconds whilst the circuit was at its driest, edged out practice pace-setter Tom Ingram by 0.062 seconds with defending champion Gordon Shedden in third.
Matt Neal would claim fourth ahead of Colin Turkington’s BMW 125i M Sport, with today being the latter’s first runs with the new B48 engine, and Adam Morgan rounded out the top six ahead of Smith’s Eurotech Racing team-mate Jack Goff.
Turkington’s BMW team-mates Andrew Jordan and Rob Collard will feel frustrated the potential of their package went wasted in the conditions, languishing 11th and 15th respectively.
Subaru fared no better. Two-time champion Jason Plato will start 18th, with new team-mate Ashley Sutton 22nd after an excursion into the gravel trap at Paddock Hill bend curtailed his running early and brought out one of a number of red flag stoppages.
Dave Newsham, who has been struggling with the handling of the BTC Norlin Chevrolet Cruze since Media Day, also neccesitated a stoppage after heading straight on at the same corner into the barrier.
On the restart after that incident, defending champion Shedden lost the Honda Civic Type R heading through the left hander at Surtees.
Senna Proctor marked Vauxhall’s first qualifying session back in the BTCC with a similar incident as he went straight on at Druids hairpin and came to rest against the barrier. Tom Chilton also struggled on his first session back and will line up 12th.
Ollie Jackson only added to a rather expensive car park as he headed off on the exit of Clearways with less than ten minutes to go.
It was a session dictated by unpredictable weather but with a number of cars out of position, the first round of the season has been made all the more intriguing.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 55 | Jeff SMITH |  |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 48.367 | ||
| 2 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 19 | 48.429 | 0.062 | |
| 3 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 48.527 | 0.160 |
| 4 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 22 | 48.543 | 0.176 |
| 5 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 26 | 48.552 | 0.185 |
| 6 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 20 | 48.596 | 0.229 | |
| 7 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 48.666 | 0.299 | |
| 8 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 48.819 | 0.452 | |
| 9 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 48.861 | 0.494 | |
| 10 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 21 | 48.899 | 0.532 |
| 11 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 25 | 48.919 | 0.552 |
| 12 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 48.937 | 0.570 |
| 13 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 48.942 | 0.575 | |
| 14 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 20 | 48.948 | 0.581 | |
| 15 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 49.026 | 0.659 |
| 16 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 49.040 | 0.673 |
| 17 | 300 | Luke DAVENPORT | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 20 | 49.111 | 0.744 | |
| 18 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 19 | 49.118 | 0.751 |
| 19 | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 18 | 49.129 | 0.762 |
| 20 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 19 | 49.178 | 0.811 | |
| 21 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 17 | 49.180 | 0.813 | |
| 22 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 8 | 49.193 | 0.826 |
| 23 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 49.251 | 0.884 | |
| 24 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 21 | 49.329 | 0.962 | |
| 25 | 23 | M | Daniel LLOYD | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 49.389 | 1.022 |
| 26 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 16 | 49.432 | 1.065 | |
| 27 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 19 | 49.542 | 1.175 |
| 28 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 18 | 49.559 | 1.192 | |
| 29 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 18 | 49.581 | 1.214 | |
| 30 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 49.794 | 1.427 | |
| 31 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
BMR Racing Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 13 | 49.847 | 1.480 |
| 32 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 3 | No time | N/A |