Jack Goff claims pole position for BTCC season opener at Brands Hatch

Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff has taken pole position for the British Touring Car Championship season opener amid gloomy conditions, edging out the returning Sam Tordoff by 0.093 seconds.

Series rookie Dan Cammish starred behind the wheel of the new-for-2018 Honda Civic Type R FK7, leading the timesheets for a spell before his quickest time was wiped out.

That promoted Goff to the head of the field from which he was never bettered, though Cammish was able to recover on his second run to take fourth behind 2017 runner-up Colin Turkington in the BMW 125i M Sport.

Turkington’s team-mate Andrew Jordan claimed fifth ahead of the second works Honda in the hands of Matt Neal, with Tom Chilton continuing a strong day for Motorbase Performance in seventh.

Matt Simpson marked the start of his tenure with Eurotech with his best qualifying finish to date, taking eighth in the hatchback-shaped Type R.

Tom Ingram has won the series’ opening round for the last two seasons in succession and will start ninth in the Toyota Avensis, with Brett Smith rounding out the top ten.

Reigning champion Ashley Sutton struggled for pace and wound out in the middle of the pack with 14th, as team-mate Jason Plato similarly downbeat in 29th.

Q1 results

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	31		Jack GOFF		WIX Racing with Eurotech	Honda Civic Type R	25	48.038	0.000
2	600		Sam TORDOFF		Team GardX Racing with Motorbase	Ford Focus RS	28	48.131	0.093
3	2	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	28	48.143	0.105
4	27	M	Dan CAMMISH		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	48.145	0.107
5	77	M	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	31	48.152	0.114
6	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	48.164	0.126
7	3		Tom CHILTON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	28	48.229	0.191
8	303		Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	24	48.246	0.208
9	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	24	48.257	0.219
10	39		Brett SMITH		WIX Racing with Eurotech	Honda Civic Type R	27	48.268	0.230
11	11		Rob AUSTIN		DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	27	48.289	0.251
12	66	M	Josh COOK		Power Maxed TAG Racing	Vauxhall Astra	27	48.310	0.272
13	33		Adam MORGAN		MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	29	48.328	0.290
14	20		James COLE		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	24	48.379	0.341
15	15		Tom OLIPHANT		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	29	48.396	0.358
16	22		Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	48.402	0.364
17	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	30	48.419	0.381
18	1	M	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	26	48.437	0.399
19	5	M	Rob COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	31	48.456	0.418
20	60		Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	28	48.473	0.435
21	18	M	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed TAG Racing	Vauxhall Astra	27	48.478	0.440
22	21		Mike BUSHELL		Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing	Volkswagen CC	25	48.650	0.612
23	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	24	48.652	0.614
24	6		Rory BUTCHER		AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing	MG6	25	48.715	0.677
25	24		Jake HILL		Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing	Volkswagen CC	20	48.729	0.691
26	14		James NASH		BTC Norlin Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	48.771	0.733
27	19		Bobby THOMPSON		Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars	Volkswagen CC	28	48.844	0.806
28	12		Tom BOARDMAN		AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing	MG6	23	48.853	0.815
29	99	M	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	29	48.919	0.881
30	44		Michael CAINE		Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars	Volkswagen CC	24	48.959	0.921
31	28		Josh PRICE		Autoglym Academy Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	28	49.174	1.136
32	23		Sam SMELT		AmD with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	29	49.219	1.181