BTC Racing’s Josh Cook has provisionally secured pole position for the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Croft after Tom Ingram’s Toyota Corolla appeared to fail the post-session ride height check.
With heavy rain falling ahead of the half-hour session, the first two thirds of the session ran without drama before Aiden Moffat’s Infiniti Q50 caused a red flag stoppage after running straight on into the barrier at turn one.
The green flag was then shown with ten minutes remaining in the session, before Moffat’s team-mate Ash Sutton – who had been on provisional pole earlier in the session – had a mirror image of Moffat’s incident, again ending up in the barriers at the first corner.
The clock was then reset to ten minutes, and a flurry of faster times initially came in with Josh Cook and then Tom Ingram improving to provisional pole, knocking Senna Proctor’s Hyundai i30 Fastback N off the top spot.
With the track drying out, the wet Goodyear-shod runners seemed to struggle with overheating with very few improvements in the final minutes of the session.
While Ingram had been in a prime position to take points away from title rivals Colin Turkington and Ash Sutton, he then failed the ride height check, thus provisionally promoting Josh Cook to the head of the field for race one tomorrow.
Assuming Ingram is put to the back of the field, the change would promote Proctor’s Hyundai to the first row, with Jake Hill’s MB Motorsport Honda Civic heading the second row of the grid.
Behind Hill was defending champion Colin Turkington, ahead of his Team BMW stablemate Tom Oliphant, with Bobby Thompson putting in an impressive qualifying performance to provisionally line up sixth on the grid.
Current standings leader Ash Sutton was next after losing his best time for causing the red flag, ahead of Thruxton podium finisher Tom Chilton in the second of the BTC Racing Honda Civics.
Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal will line up ninth, while fellow Honda racer Michael Crees will complete the fifth row.
Behind Crees is Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher, alongside Silverstone race winner and team-mate Ollie Jackson in 11th and 12th positions respectively.
Adam Morgan’s Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes was next, with Chris Smiley’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai for company on the seventh row, while Dan Cammish will start down in 15th after having his fastest lap time removed.
The opening British Touring Car Championship race of the weekend is scheduled to get underway at 12:02 BST tomorrow [11 October].
Provisional qualifying results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 66 | I | Josh COOK |  |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 18 | 1:27.350 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 18 | I | Senna PROCTOR | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 19 | 1:27.450 | 0.100 |
| 3 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | 1:27.500 | 0.150 |
| 4 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 18 | 1:27.510 | 0.160 |
| 5 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 1:27.574 | 0.224 |
| 6 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 16 | 1:27.593 | 0.243 |
| 7 | 116 | I | Ashley SUTTON | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 11 | 1:27.635 | 0.285 |
| 8 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 1:27.681 | 0.331 |
| 9 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 18 | 1:27.695 | 0.345 |
| 10 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 18 | 1:27.729 | 0.379 |
| 11 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 13 | 1:27.760 | 0.410 |
| 12 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:28.197 | 0.847 |
| 13 | 32 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 17 | 1:28.308 | 0.958 |
| 14 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:28.401 | 1.051 |
| 15 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 1:28.494 | 1.144 |
| 16 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 11 | 1:28.503 | 1.153 |
| 17 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:28.771 | 1.421 |
| 18 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 18 | 1:29.153 | 1.803 |
| 19 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:29.217 | 1.867 |
| 20 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. | BMW 125i M Sport | 19 | 1:29.377 | 2.027 |
| 21 | 21 | I | Mike BUSHELL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 6 | 1:29.736 | 2.386 |
| 22 | 29 | I | Jac CONSTABLE | |
Power Maxed Car Care Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 18 | 1:30.037 | 2.687 |
| 23 | 44 | I | Andy NEATE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:30.321 | 2.971 |
| 24 | 32 | I | Jack BUTEL | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 17 | 1:30.329 | 2.979 |
| 25 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. | Volkswagen CC | 5 | 1:32.933 | 5.583 |
| 26 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 19 | 1:27.075* | N/A |
- Tom Ingram failed the post-qualifying ride height check.