Neal leads all-Honda front row

The session was interrupted by three red flags, but Neal and team-mate Gordon Shedden set the pace from the off.

Even before the first stoppage - caused when a misunderstanding between a slowing Shedden and a charging Mat Jackson (Motorbase Ford Focus) at the Craner Curves sent Jackson flying into the gravel - had both set times that could not be beaten by the rest of the field.

Neal, who was running with 9kg of success ballast, improved to 1m10.129s after the restart, with Shedden managing a 1m10.172s with 18kg of ballast.

The reds then flew again after Andy Neate's Arena Focus went off, and again when Tom Boardman's Special Tuning SEAT and the Chevrolet Lacetti of Chris James clashed. A front-left suspension problem meant Shedden could not make it out when the session went green again, but the Hondas were safe.

"It was lively because we set the car up for corner speed and to get the power down," said Neal. "We can't do that in the race."

Arena Motorsport's Tom Chilton held third initially, but James Nash (Triple 8 Engineering Vauxhall Vectra) and Eurotech Racing's Vauxhall Vectra driven by Andrew Jordan threatened as the session wore on.

A final red was called when Nash and the Speedworks Toyota Avensis of Tony Hughes clashed, sending the Toyota off.

Jordan had suffered a damper failure in the second free practice session and did not get to set a time until after the final restart. Despite a less-than-ideal set-up he took third, only to be pipped in the final moments by Nash with 1m10.477s.

Chilton secured fifth, ahead of an impressive Jeff Smith, who followed team-mate Jordan to record a time good enough to qualify for the third row.

Despite his early off, from which he would not reappear, Jackson was seventh.

Championship leader Jason Plato reckoned he could do a 1m11.4s before the session and recorded 1m11.362s. That was enough for the RML Chevrolet to qualify eighth - and top normally aspirated runner - but he was over a second slower than the Hondas.

Pos  Driver           Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Matt Neal        Honda                 1m10.129s
 2.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                 1m10.172s  + 0.043s
 3.  James Nash       Triple 8 Vauxhall     1m10.477s  + 0.348s
 4.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Vauxhall     1m10.556s  + 0.427s
 5.  Tom Chilton      Arena Ford            1m10.737s  + 0.608s
 6.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Vauxhall     1m11.074s  + 0.945s
 7.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford        1m11.309s  + 1.180s
 8.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet             1m11.362s  + 1.233s
 9.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet             1m11.425s  + 1.296s
10.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW               1m11.440s  + 1.311s
11.  Paul O'Neill     Tech-Speed Chevrolet  1m11.540s  + 1.411s
12.  Tom Boardman     Special Tuning SEAT   1m11.572s  + 1.443s
13.  Tony Gilham      Triple 8 Vauxhall     1m11.656s  + 1.527s
14.  Andy Neate       Arena Ford            1m11.766s  + 1.637s
15.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford        1m11.799s  + 1.670s
16.  Tom Onslow-Cole  AmD Volkswagen        1m12.052s  + 1.923s
17.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW               1m12.167s  + 2.038s
18.  John George      Tech-Speed Chevrolet  1m12.289s  + 2.160s
19.  Dave Newsham     Geoff Steel BMW       1m12.352s  + 2.223s
20.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota        1m12.429s  + 2.300s
21.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi           1m13.283s  + 3.154s
22.  Chris James      ES Chevrolet          1m14.787s  + 4.658s
23.  Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota     1m15.125s  + 4.996s