Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat bagged his first-ever pole position in the British Touring Car Championship at Croft, as the Infiniti driver out-paced MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill by just 0.040 seconds.
The session was interrupted by two red flag stoppages, firstly to recover Rory Butcher’s stricken Toyota, which came to a halt after eight minutes, and then later on to recover Nicolas Hamilton’s CUPRA, after he crashed into the barriers at the chicane after 17 minutes.
That meant there was a distinctly stop-start nature to the session, with many of the best times coming within the final minutes of the session.
In the end it was Moffat who posted the quickest lap of 1:22.037, with the Scot hitting the top of the times with just two minutes left on the clock, to bag a first pole.
Hill put his Ford in second, once again missing out on his own maiden pole, less than a tenth of a second behind Moffat.
Colin Turkington had been fastest just before the second red flag period, but in the end the Team BMW driver was third at the end of the session, with a lap of 1:22.159 after improving by just 0.07 seconds on his final run.
Senna Proctor was the leading Honda driver in fourth, the BTC Racing driver 0.132 seconds off the pace, ahead of Adam Morgan’s Ciceley Motorsport BMW in fifth.
BMW’s Tom Oliphant was sixth quickest, ahead of BTC Racing’s Josh Cook in seventh.
Championship leader Ash Sutton was eighth quickest in the second Laser Tools Racing Infiniti, with the top ten being completed by Team Dynamics’ Daniel Rowbottom and Power Maxed Racing’s Jason Plato.
Rowbottom had in fact been down in 19th after a series of smoky issues with his car, before he improved ten places with the final lap of anyone.
His team-mate Gordon Shedden was only 17th after a challenging session for the Scot which saw him down in 22nd before he improved late on.
Title contender Tom Ingram struggled with the ballast in his Hyundai throughout the session, with the Excelr8 Motorsport driver languishing in 21st, over eight tenths off the pace.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 16 |  |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 17 | 1:22.037 | – |
| 2 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:22.077 | 0.040 |
| 3 | 2 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 1:22.159 | 0.122 |
| 4 | 18 | |
Senna PROCTOR | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | 1:22.169 | 0.132 |
| 5 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 12 | 1:22.186 | 0.149 |
| 6 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 1:22.190 | 0.153 |
| 7 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:22.214 | 0.177 |
| 8 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 17 | 1:22.297 | 0.260 |
| 9 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:22.330 | 0.293 |
| 10 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 1:22.413 | 0.376 |
| 11 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 1:22.438 | 0.401 |
| 12 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 13 | 1:22.502 | 0.465 |
| 13 | 22 | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 14 | 1:22.543 | 0.506 |
| 14 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 1:22.545 | 0.508 |
| 15 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 14 | 1:22.573 | 0.536 |
| 16 | 31 | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:22.603 | 0.566 |
| 17 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | 1:22.629 | 0.592 |
| 18 | 23 | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1:22.655 | 0.618 |
| 19 | 4 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:22.673 | 0.636 |
| 20 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 1:22.734 | 0.697 |
| 21 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 13 | 1:22.846 | 0.809 |
| 22 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 13 | 1:22.994 | 0.957 |
| 23 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | PHSC with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:23.219 | 1.182 |
| 24 | 19 | |
Jack MITCHELL | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:23.276 | 1.239 |
| 25 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 14 | 1:23.319 | 1.282 |
| 26 | 44 | |
Andy NEATE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 13 | 1:23.950 | 1.913 |
| 27 | 42 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 13 | 1:24.993 | 2.956 |
| 28 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 7 | 1:27.260 | 5.223 |
| 29 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 3 | No time | N/A |