Ash Sutton brought momentum with him as he comfortably took pole in the NAPA Racing UK Ford in British Touring Car Championship qualifying at Snetterton as championship leader Dan Cammish fails to set a lap.
The three-time champion put a true marker down for the title with a compelling performance to take pole position. Setting a 1:54.526, Sutton out-qualified Tom Ingram by 0.342 seconds.
Ingram did not complete a final lap, but still managed to put the car on the front row. The EXCELR8 driver has been consistent so far this season and a second place shows the consistency once again.
Colin Turkington was the first of the BMWs who managed to lock out the second row. The four-time champion ended up only 0.086 seconds behind Ingram. The Team BMW car was one of two who spun off under the session’s first red flag.
The stoppage happened before drivers had set a representative time because of fluid being spilt on track by EXCELR8’s Nick Halstead after an engine change that left him out of FP1. Turkington, along with Dan Lloyd, Dexter Patterson, Adam Morgan all spun as a result of the fluid with only Patterson sustaining notable damage.
The second BMW was the MB Motorsport car of Jake Hill who narrowly missed out on moving further forward. Only 0.099 seconds behind Turkington, Hill could not quite find the speed to progress up further.
Ricky Collard qualified in fifth for the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK car. After the antics last time out at Brands, Collard was quick to get up to speed and show his pace once again. No one ended up within a tenth either side of him making it one of the more sure positions in terms of pace.
Behind Collard was the Team BMW car of Adam Morgan. Morgan recovered after his earlier spin and after making no contact with the wall was able to regroup and go again.
It was tight as Morgan only got seventh ahead of Josh Cook by 0.008 seconds. This was a theme through the rest of the top 10 as the gaps were extremely close. One Motorsport’s Cook finished ahead of the second Toyota of Rory Butcher by only 0.035 seconds to make those margins even finer.
Dan Rowbottom was only a further 0.037 seconds behind Butcher. A performance that may leave many surprised being the second NAPA Racing UK Ford in ninth after their powerful performance in FP2.
Qualifying tenth was Stephen Jelley making it three Team BMW cars and four BMW’s inside the top 10. Jelley was also agonisingly close to the driver in front of him finishing only 0.072 seconds behind Rowbottom.
Cammish ended up clipping the inside of the corner Hamilton which threw him out wide and ended his session. His one and only out and in lap was deleted resulting in the championship leader starting at the back in 25th.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 11:25 BST on Sunday.
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 116 |  |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 10 | 1:54.526 | – |
| 2 | 1 | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 12 | 1:54.868 | 0.342 |
| 3 | 4 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 1:54.954 | 0.428 |
| 4 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 1:55.053 | 0.527 |
| 5 | 37 | |
Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 14 | 1:55.322 | 0.796 |
| 6 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 1:55.438 | 0.912 |
| 7 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | 1:55.446 | 0.920 |
| 8 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 1:55.481 | 0.955 |
| 9 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 11 | 1:55.518 | 0.992 |
| 10 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 1:55.590 | 1.064 |
| 11 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 13 | 1:55.654 | 1.128 |
| 12 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 1:55.684 | 1.158 |
| 13 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:56.024 | 1.498 |
| 14 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 12 | 1:56.092 | 1.566 |
| 15 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 11 | 1:56.141 | 1.615 |
| 16 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:56.167 | 1.641 |
| 17 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 13 | 1:56.422 | 1.896 |
| 18 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 11 | 1:56.533 | 2.007 |
| 19 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 1:56.734 | 2.208 |
| 20 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 13 | 1:56.903 | 2.377 |
| 21 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 12 | 1:56.916 | 2.390 |
| 22 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 12 | 1:56.963 | 2.437 |
| 23 | 70 | |
Will POWELL | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 12 | 1:59.752 | 5.226 |
| 24 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 4 | No time | N/A |
| 25 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 5 | No time | N/A |
| 26 | 22 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 1 | No time | N/A |
| 27 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 9 | Excluded | 3.647 |