With dry, overcast conditions surrounding the Snetterton 300 circuit this afternoon, Jack Goff secured his maiden pole position on pure merit for round 16, as the British Touring Car Championship made its return to racing after the customary six-week summer break.
The Eurotech Racing driver continued his good form from second free practice to post his best effort of a 1:55.786 around the 2.969-mile circuit with just seven minutes remaining in the 30-minute session. Team BMW UK’s Colin Turkington will line up alongside him on the front row for the first race tomorrow, with an effort that was 0.460 seconds slower than the Honda driver.
Ashley Sutton provided the best effort from the Subaru contingent in third, whilst Speedworks’ Tom Ingram completing the top four, who were separated by 0.877 seconds.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan put his Mercedes-Benz A-Class up into fifth, a further 0.013 seconds behind Ingram, whilst Rob Austin best effort with six minutes to go initially put him fourth. The Handy Motorsport driver had a sideways moment coming out of Riches on the very next lap that sent him into a 360-degree spin, compromising his later efforts in the session.
Andrew Jordan was also in the hunt for a top five spot on the grid for the first race of the weekend, but had to settle for seventh. Jason Plato’s herculean efforts in the dying seconds of qualifying putting his Subaru Levorg GT up into eighth, ahead of both Rob Collard and TAG Racing’s Jake Hill, with the pair completing the top ten.
Mike Epps missed out on the top ten by 0.010 seconds from Hill, but was faster that Motorbase’s Mat Jackson and Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat, with Team AMD’s Ant-Whorton Eales being the best of the Jack Sears Trophy contingent in 14th with his Audi S3.
Several drivers found some of their best lap times deleted by race control for exceeding track limits, which included Sutton, Morgan, Whorton-Eales and Subaru’s Josh Price, whilst both Matt Simpson and Stephen Jelley having their fair share of off-track excursions in the last five minutes.
Simpson would spin off at Riches and hit the signage off the outside line of the corner, whilst Jelley’s Ford Focus suffered right front suspension damage in a seperate incident.
But the biggest drama was for the Halfords Yuasa pairing of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal, with the latter having his best time deleted for failing a ride height inspection halfway through the session, having posted the third fastest time at that point.
UPDATE: Neal subsequently had his best time reinstated after the team appealed the decision, giving him fourth for race one and dropping all drivers from Ingram to Smith down one position.
Shedden, who is running with maximum success ballast for the first race this weekend, was able to gradually improve through the latter stages of the session to as high as 16th place. But the defending champion and points leader will start from 20th tomorrow, with team mate Neal only managing as high as 23rd.
Race 16 of the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship gets underway tomorrow morning at 1137 local time, lasting for 12 laps.
Q1 results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 31 | Jack GOFF |  |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 9 | 1:55.786 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 13 | 1:56.246 | 0.460 |
| 3 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 13 | 1:56.375 | 0.589 |
| 4 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 12 | 1:56.663 | 0.877 | |
| 5 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 13 | 1:56.686 | 0.900 | |
| 6 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 11 | 1:56.790 | 1.004 | |
| 7 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 13 | 1:56.864 | 1.078 |
| 8 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 1:57.024 | 1.238 |
| 9 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 13 | 1:57.025 | 1.239 |
| 10 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 1:57.057 | 1.271 | |
| 11 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 9 | 1:57.067 | 1.281 | |
| 12 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 6 | 1:57.140 | 1.354 | |
| 13 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 12 | 1:57.171 | 1.385 | |
| 14 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 11 | 1:57.191 | 1.405 | |
| 15 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 11 | 1:57.262 | 1.476 |
| 16 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 11 | 1:57.275 | 1.489 | |
| 17 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 13 | 1:57.342 | 1.556 |
| 18 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 12 | 1:57.368 | 1.582 | |
| 19 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 9 | 1:57.421 | 1.635 | |
| 20 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:57.443 | 1.657 |
| 21 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 13 | 1:57.449 | 1.663 | |
| 22 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:57.462 | 1.676 | |
| 23 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 9 | 1:57.564 | 1.778 |
| 24 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:57.590 | 1.804 |
| 25 | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 10 | 1:57.661 | 1.875 |
| 26 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 1:57.707 | 1.921 |
| 27 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 11 | 1:57.718 | 1.932 |
| 28 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 8 | 1:58.311 | 2.525 | |
| 29 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 10 | 1:58.406 | 2.620 | |
| 30 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 11 | 1:58.805 | 3.019 | |
| 31 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 12 | 2:00.751 | 4.965 |