Tom Ingram takes pole position in a stop-start qualifying session for the fourth round of the 2022 British Touring Car Championship.
Two red flags paused running at Oulton Park, including one in the final minute of the session which brought an early end to the day.
Ingram’s time of 1 minute 25.468 seconds put him almost two tenths of a second clear of the nxt fastest driver and was a new qualifying lap record for the Oulton Park circuit.
NAPA Racing’s Ash Sutton set the pace early in the 30 minute session with a time in the low 1:26 range.
Ingram was the first driver to dip below 1:26, with a time of 1:25.669, although it wasn’t long before many of the front runners were also in the 1:25 range.
Nobody would be able to knock Ingram off the top of the times, though. He lowered the benchmark again to the new qualifying record time in the second half of the session. Toyota driver Rory Butcher, who had a lap time disallowed for track limits early on, jumped up to second, but was 0.186s off Ingram’s time.
The first red flag was brought out with a little over five minutes on the clock as Rick Parfitt had an apparent mechanical problem and had to take to the escape road at Hislop’s.
The clock was reset to 10 minutes when the session resumed and most of the field headed back on track.
Dan Lloyd was the fastest of those who improved late in the session, going third quickest ahead of Adam Morgan and Sutton.
NAPA’s Dan Cammish was briefly third quickest before his lap time was removed for exceeding track limits, and he ended the session seventh, behind Dan Rowbottom.
Two more drivers would have incidents before the 10 minutes were over. Jake Hill and Tom Chilton came together as Chilton left the pits. The incident sent Hill wide over the grass but he was able to continue.
Minutes later, Laser Tools Racing driver Aiden Moffat came to a stop on track, causing an early end to the session.
Colin Turkington was just able to improve moments before the red flag came out, putting his BMW inside the top 10 in P9, just behind Gordon Shedden.
Championship leader Josh Cook rounded out the top 10.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 |  |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 15 | 1:25.468 | – |
| 2 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 1:25.654 | 0.186 |
| 3 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 15 | 1:25.714 | 0.246 |
| 4 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 17 | 1:25.725 | 0.257 |
| 5 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:25.738 | 0.270 |
| 6 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:25.781 | 0.313 |
| 7 | 9 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 1:25.793 | 0.325 |
| 8 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:25.847 | 0.379 |
| 9 | 50 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 17 | 1:25.907 | 0.439 |
| 10 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:25.930 | 0.462 |
| 11 | 21 | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 1:25.986 | 0.518 |
| 12 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 1:26.011 | 0.543 |
| 13 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 19 | 1:26.022 | 0.554 |
| 14 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:26.071 | 0.603 |
| 15 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 1:26.076 | 0.608 |
| 16 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:26.147 | 0.679 |
| 17 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 1:26.250 | 0.782 |
| 18 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 17 | 1:26.265 | 0.797 |
| 19 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 1:26.288 | 0.820 |
| 20 | 777 | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:26.307 | 0.839 |
| 21 | 97 | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:26.388 | 0.920 |
| 22 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 19 | 1:26.479 | 1.011 |
| 23 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 12 | 1:26.487 | 1.019 |
| 24 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:26.527 | 1.059 |
| 25 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 1:26.783 | 1.315 |
| 26 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 17 | 1:26.946 | 1.478 |
| 27 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 1:27.060 | 1.592 |
| 28 | 20 | |
Will POWELL | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 17 | 1:27.495 | 2.027 |
| 29 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 13 | 1:27.933 | 2.465 |