Matt Neal decimated the qualifying lap record by nearly half a second and gave the new-for-2018 Honda Civic Type R FK8 its first pole position in the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton.
A quickest time of 1:15.612 around the 2.4 mile, high-speed Hampshire venue sees the triple champion head up the pack, with practice pace-setter Colin Turkington (Team BMW) alongside on the front row, some 0.235 seconds adrift.
It means that Neal tops the timesheets in qualifying at Thruxton for the second year in succession, having managed the same feat last May.
Brett Smith led the Eurotech Racing charge in his hatchback-shaped Type R with an impressive third, edging out the sister Team Dynamics machine of Dan Cammish.
Senna Proctor reinforced the positive showings from the Vauxhall Astra earlier in the day with fifth, whilst incumbent championship leader Tom Ingram managed sixth in a Toyota Avensis carrying the full quota of 75 kilograms of success ballast.
Sam Tordoff has cut a frustrated figure thus far in 2018, but with seventh he stands a good chance of fighting at the front in the Motorbase-run Focus RS, edging out stablemate Tom Chilton.
Andrew Jordan wasn’t quite able to match his team-mate and claimed ninth, with the BTC Norlin Racing Type R of Chris Smiley rounding out the top ten.
Matt Simpson came next ahead of the leading Mercedes A-Class of Adam Morgan, with local racer Rob Collard enjoying a solid run to 13th.
Jack Goff will have his work cut out to repeat last season’s podium success from 14th, especially with Donington Park race-winner Josh Cook alongside at the foot of the top fifteen.
Remarkably for this action-packed venue, the session passed without major drama and all 32 cars should take the start tomorrow afternoon without issue.
The opening race gets underway at 12:15.
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL |  |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:15.612 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:15.847 | 0.235 |
| 3 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:16.047 | 0.435 | |
| 4 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:16.089 | 0.477 |
| 5 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 1:16.145 | 0.533 |
| 6 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 1:16.179 | 0.567 | |
| 7 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:16.221 | 0.609 | |
| 8 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 14 | 1:16.256 | 0.644 | |
| 9 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:16.318 | 0.706 |
| 10 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:16.395 | 0.783 | |
| 11 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:16.457 | 0.845 | |
| 12 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 1:16.513 | 0.901 | |
| 13 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:16.523 | 0.911 |
| 14 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:16.538 | 0.926 | |
| 15 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:16.603 | 0.991 |
| 16 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 1:16.632 | 1.020 | |
| 17 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 15 | 1:16.641 | 1.029 | |
| 18 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:16.690 | 1.078 |
| 19 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 1:16.766 | 1.154 | |
| 20 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:16.779 | 1.167 | |
| 21 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 1:16.805 | 1.193 | |
| 22 | 14 | James NASH | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:16.827 | 1.215 | |
| 23 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
Autoglym Academy Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 1:16.894 | 1.282 | |
| 24 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 14 | 1:16.918 | 1.306 |
| 25 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 13 | 1:16.937 | 1.325 | |
| 26 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 11 | 1:17.083 | 1.471 | |
| 27 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 1:17.334 | 1.722 | |
| 28 | 44 | Michael CAINE | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 8 | 1:17.570 | 1.958 | |
| 29 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 14 | 1:17.668 | 2.056 | |
| 30 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 13 | 1:17.773 | 2.161 | |
| 31 | 12 | Tom BOARDMAN | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 12 | 1:18.113 | 2.501 | |
| 32 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 15 | 1:18.271 | 2.659 |