Honda’s Dan Cammish claimed pole position in a frantic British Touring Car Championship qualifying session at Knockhill, edging out a trio of BMWs headed by Team Parker Racing’s Stephen Jelley.
Times tumbled continually throughout the session on the recently resurfaced Knockhill circuit, with the battle for pole seemingly being between the rear-wheel drive BMW cars until late in the session, when Cammish put his Civic at the top of the times with four minutes to go.
No-one else improved the 29-year-old’s time thereafter, giving Cammish his first pole position in the BTCC and the second for the new Civic Type R.
Jelley put in his best qualifying performance since returning to the BTCC last year by claiming second, giving the 36-yerar-old bragging rights amongst the BMW drivers.
Second practice pace-setter Andrew Jordan was third for BMW Pirtek Racing in an incredibly close session which saw the top three covered by less than a tenth of a second.
Championship leader Colin Turkington was fourth, despite carrying the full 75 kg of success ballast, ahead of BTC Norlin Racing’s Chris Smiley in fifth, with the Honda driver slotting in behind his fellow Northern Irishman.
Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram kept himself close to his title rival by putting his Toyota in sixth, ahead of the leading Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes of Tom Oliphant in seventh.
Subaru’s Ash Sutton was eighth, having been unable to improve his time in the final ten minutes of the session and ending up unable to match the lap he set earlier in the day in first practice.
The second Mercedes of Adam Morgan and the leading Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall of Josh Cook completed the top ten.
Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith was 11th, although the Honda driver threw his car off the circuit at Turn 5 with just three minutes to run and consequently couldn’t improve in the final minutes.
The only BMW driver not to crack the top ten was rookie Ricky Collard, who nonetheless put in an impressive lap to end up 12th on the grid for race one.
HMS Racing’s Rob Austin had to save a huge slide on his final lap and could only manage 13th in his Alfa Romeo, having been one of half a dozen drivers to have at least one of their lap times deleted for exceeding track limits.
The second Subaru of Jason Plato was 18th fastest, with last year’s pole-sitter being almost six tenths off the pace.
Although Cammish claimed pole, his Halfords Yuasa Racing team-mate Matt Neal struggled with his car and was just 21st fastest.
Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson was the only driver not to post a time after his Volkswagen suffered from an oil leak on his first lap out of the pits. That brought out a lengthy red flag stoppage, as Thompson’s Vauxhall completed well over half a lap of leaving oil on the circuit before he pulled off, leaving the marshals with a significant quantity of cement dust to lay on the slick.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 11:50 BST (12:50 CEST) on Sunday and is forecast to be wet.
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAP | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH |  |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 50.929 | – |
| 2 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 25 | 50.952 | 0.023 | |
| 3 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 25 | 50.980 | 0.051 |
| 4 | 2 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 51.172 | 0.243 |
| 5 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 51.234 | 0.305 | |
| 6 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 51.236 | 0.307 | |
| 7 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 25 | 51.274 | 0.345 | |
| 8 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 25 | 51.313 | 0.384 |
| 9 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 24 | 51.343 | 0.414 | |
| 10 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 51.351 | 0.422 |
| 11 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 51.377 | 0.448 | |
| 12 | 55 | M | Ricky COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 51.381 | 0.452 |
| 13 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 24 | 51.385 | 0.456 | |
| 14 | 26 | Daniel LLOYD | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 51.389 | 0.460 | |
| 15 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 26 | 51.390 | 0.461 | |
| 16 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 22 | 51.394 | 0.465 | |
| 17 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 25 | 51.433 | 0.504 | |
| 18 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 21 | 51.502 | 0.573 |
| 19 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 23 | 51.511 | 0.582 | |
| 20 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 22 | 51.525 | 0.596 | |
| 21 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 51.575 | 0.646 |
| 22 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 26 | 51.608 | 0.679 | |
| 23 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 22 | 51.664 | 0.735 | |
| 24 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 51.675 | 0.746 |
| 25 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 25 | 51.693 | 0.764 | |
| 26 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 8 | 51.828 | 0.899 | |
| 27 | 41 | Glynn GEDDIE | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 26 | 52.142 | 1.213 | |
| 28 | 42 | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 21 | 52.163 | 1.234 | |
| 29 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 25 | 52.273 | 1.344 | |
| 30 | 43 | Ollie PIDGLEY | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 24 | 52.854 | 1.925 | |
| 31 | 19 | B. THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | – | No time | N/A |