Matt Neal in pole position for championship finale, Race 1
Matt Neal has qualified on pole in the last British Touring Car qualifying session of the season at Silverstone this afternoon
The battle for pole looked like it would boil down to a fight between title outsider Mat Jackson and championship contender Gordon Shedden's Honda Civic.
Shedden set the pace during the first runs, before Jackson took provisional pole with 59.391s. Shedden hit back only for Jackson to record a 59.166s lap.
It seemed Jackson had given the Motorbase Ford team its first race-one pole of the year, but with less than four minutes to go Neal jumped to the top of the times with 59.131s, just as Tony Hughes went off at Copse.
"It wasn't looking pretty before then," admitted points leader Neal after his third race-one pole of the season. "I'm just relieved. I can't believe it. There was nothing left in the car."
Behind the top three came an ill James Nash in Triple Eight's Vauxhall Vectra, meaning that four of the five title contenders are on the top two rows.
Alex MacDowall was the top normally aspirated runner in fifth, two places ahead of his 27kg success ballast-laden team-mate Plato.
In between the two Chevies in sixth was Tom Chilton in the leading Arena Ford Focus, 0.3s off pole.
Returning former champion James Thompson continued to struggle with his 45kg of ballast - compared to team-mate Jackson's 18kg - and will start tomorrow's opening race from 15th.
He, along with Tom Onslow-Cole also lost their best laps, having set them under yellows. That dropped Arena Ford driver Onslow-Cole from ninth to 11th, while Thompson's Motorbase Focus remains 15th but loses his 59.986s lap.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Matt Neal Honda 59.131s 2. Mat Jackson Ford 59.166s + 0.035s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda 59.265s + 0.134s 4. James Nash Vauxhall 59.308s + 0.177s 5. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 59.362s + 0.231s 6. Tom Chilton Ford 59.432s + 0.301s 7. Jason Plato Chevrolet 59.507s + 0.376s 8. Andy Neate Ford 59.533s + 0.402s 9. Frank Wrathall Toyota 59.605s + 0.474s 10. Tom Boardman SEAT 59.635s + 0.504s 11. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 59.657s + 0.526s 12. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 59.817s + 0.686s 13. Dave Newsham SEAT 59.835s + 0.704s 14. Paul O'Neill Chevrolet 59.873s + 0.742s 15. James Thompson Ford 1m00.128s + 0.997s 16. Nick Foster BMW 1m00.188s + 1.057s 17. Rob Collard BMW 1m00.201s + 1.070s 18. Liam Griffin Ford 1m00.216s + 1.085s 19. Ollie Jackson Vauxhall 1m00.223s + 1.092s 20. Rob Austin Audi 1m00.344s + 1.213s 21. Daniel Welch Proton 1m00.404s + 1.273s 22. Tony Gilham BMW 1m00.473s + 1.342s 23. John George Chevrolet 1m00.757s + 1.626s 24. Martin Byford Volkswagen 1m00.852s + 1.721s 25. Chris Swanwick Audi 1m01.028s + 1.897s 26. Lea Wood Honda 1m01.107s + 1.976s 27. Tony Hughes Toyota 1m01.206s + 2.075s 28. Chris James Chevrolet 1m01.620s + 2.489s 29. Jeff Smith Vauxhall 1m03.656s + 4.525s
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