Chilton claims pole at Brands

The 21-year-old was the only driver to break into the sub-49 seconds bracket, setting a fastest lap of 48.975 in his Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch to edge out SEAT's Jason Plato by just seven hundredths of a second.

Plato's teammate, BTCC returnee James Thompson, will start third despite an engine change, after hitting problems in the second practice session.

"It's so close at this circuit, so to put it on pole against this opposition is fantastic," said Chilton. "The interesting thing will be how quick the SEATs will be in the races."

Fellow Vauxhall debutant Fabrizio Giovanardi will share the third row with teammate Gavin Smith, while Colin Turkington was an impressive fourth fastest in his reworked WSR-prepared Team RAC MG ZS.

Turkington's teammate, Rob Collard, will start only ninth after a late-session off at Paddock Hill Bend.

The big story of the qualifying session proved to be at the back of the field, as reigning champion Matt Neal was forced to throw his Team Dynamics Honda Integra-R into the gravel at Druids after suffering a brake failure.

New teammate Gordon Shedden salvaged some solace for Dynamics by setting seventh fastest time, one place ahead of BTCC returnee Mike Jordan's ex-Neal Integra.

Synchro Motorsport's James Kaye was an impressive 10th after a troubled day. His Synchro Motorsport-run Honda Civic Type-R had not turned a wheel this year prior to the dying moments of second practice after suffering a clutch problem.

Also struggling was the Alfa Romeo 156 of newcomer Mark Smith, who was unable to run in qualifying after hitting gearbox problems in practice.

Pos  Driver              Make                       Time
 1.  Tom Chilton         Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch   48.975
 2.  Jason Plato         SEAT Leon                    49.045 +    0.070
 3.  James Thompson      SEAT Leon                    49.200 +    0.225
 4.  Colin Turkington    MG ZS                        49.210 +    0.235
 5.  Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch   49.312 +    0.337
 6.  Gavin Smith         Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch   49.318 +    0.343
 7.  Gordon Shedden      Honda Integra                49.334 +    0.359
 8.  Mike Jordan         Honda Integra                49.443 +    0.468
 9.  Robert Collard      MG ZS                        49.531 +    0.556
10.  James Kaye          Honda Civic Type R           49.759 +    0.784
11.  David Pinkney       Honda Integra                49.893 +    0.918
12.  Mark Proctor        Honda Civic Type R           50.176 +    1.201
13.  Jason Hughes        MG ZS                        50.265 +    1.290
14.  Fiona Leggate       Vauxhall Astra Coupe         50.640 +    1.665
15.  Matt Neal           Honda Integra              5:16.439 + 4:27.464