Jack Goff takes pole as Colin Turkington struggles

Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff took his third pole position of the season in qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch, as BMW’s title challenger Colin Turkington could only manage 17^th after technical dramas.

Goff, who had earlier been second fastest in the day’s second practice session, went to the top of the times on his first real flying lap after two red-flag stoppages inside the first ten minutes meant the session took some time to properly get going.

The first stoppage was in fact due to Goff’s team-mate Brett Smith going off the circuit in the first few minutes at Druids corner when early rain caused the circuit to become slippery. Points leader Ash Sutton was also one of those caught out early on by the inclement conditions.

Another red flag pause was then required shortly after the session resumed, as MG’s Josh Cook slid off into the tyre barrier at Paddock Hill Bend and beached his car in the gravel.

Around the same time, Turkington encountered electrical issues which prevented his BMW’s engine from re-starting, leading to tense faces in the WSR camp, who just minutes earlier had been forced to withdraw the sister car for Rob Collard on medical grounds.

After over ten minutes of investigating the issue, Turkington was eventually able to re-join the session and post competitive lap times, although the two-time champion could only manage 17^th in a challenging session for Team BMW.

Upon the resumption of the session, Goff was one of the first to go to the top of the times, initially with an effort of 1 minute 31.577 seconds before the Eurotech racer then improved twice in quick succession, posting the fastest lap of 1:30.802 after 11 minutes of action.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Aiden Moffat ended up in second, having also moved to the sharp end of the times around a third of the way through the session, although third-fastest Sutton initially put his car on the front row in second, before Moffat improved to re-take the position in final minutes.

Sutton will thus start race one from third, with the Handy Motorsport Toyota of Rob Austin alongside in fourth.

Power Maxed Racing’s Tom Chilton emerged in fifth after rising from 18^th with just minutes to go to crack the top ten for the third time this season.

Matt Neal was the leading Honda in sixth, ahead of Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram in seventh, who was very briefly fastest after 12 minutes.

Team HARD’s Jake Hill was an impressive eighth fastest, ahead of the second Ciceley Mercedes of Adam Morgan in ninth, just over half a second off the pace.

Subaru’s Jason Plato completed the top ten, having slipped by three places inside the final minute of the session.

Honda’s Gordon Shedden, who is hoping to keep Ingram at bay to hold on to third overall in the championship, could only manage 16^th position, spelling the end of his mathematical title chances.

Turkington’s only WSR team-mate, Andrew Jordan, could only manage 18^th, directly behind the Northern Irishman, as the BMWs failed to show strong pace.

Race one takes place at 11:37 BST on Sunday.

Qualifying results

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	31		Jack GOFF		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	16	1:30.802	0.000
2	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	15	1:31.159	0.357
3	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	15	1:31.165	0.363
4	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	14	1:31.261	0.459
5	2	M	Tom CHILTON		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	13	1:31.283	0.481
6	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	18	1:31.289	0.487
7	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	14	1:31.304	0.502
8	24		Jake HILL		TAG Racing	Volkswagen CC	12	1:31.307	0.505
9	33		Adam MORGAN		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	15	1:31.332	0.530
10	99	M	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	15	1:31.345	0.543
11	17		Dave NEWSHAM		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	16	1:31.414	0.612
12	6		Rory BUTCHER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	13	1:31.417	0.615
13	18	M	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	14	1:31.455	0.653
14	303	M	Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	17	1:31.501	0.699
15	3		Mat JACKSON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	17	1:31.504	0.702
16	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	14	1:31.592	0.790
17	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	13	1:31.598	0.796
18	77	M	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	16	1:31.609	0.807
19	22		Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	15	1:31.636	0.834
20	12		Mike EPPS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	17	1:31.673	0.871
21	40	M	Árón TAYLOR-SMITH		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	16	1:31.693	0.891
22	10		Ant WHORTON-EALES		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	16	1:31.693	0.891
23	20	M	James COLE		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	16	1:31.703	0.901
24	28	M	Josh PRICE		A-Plan Academy	Subaru Levorg GT	16	1:32.011	1.209
25	7		Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	15	1:32.208	1.406
26	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	14	1:32.231	1.429
27	30		Martin DEPPER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	15	1:32.440	1.638
28	95		Stewart LINES		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	15	1:33.781	2.979
29	66		Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	3	No time	N/A
30	39		Brett SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	1	No time	N/A
WD	5	M	Rob COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	–	No time	N/A