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Neal on pole for Brands Hatch opener

Matt Neal claimed his first British Touring Car Championship pole position for three years with a brilliant display in qualifying for the opening round of the season at Brands Hatch

The Vauxhall driver broke Yvan Muller's eight-year-old qualifying lap record on the 1.2-mile Indy circuit with a time of 48.857 seconds, set just seven minutes into the half-hour session, to claim his 10th career BTCC pole.

Reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi made it an all-Vectra front row with a time just 0.020 seconds slower.

Practice pace-setter Rob Collard lay down in sixth for most of the session in his Motorbase Performance BMW, but he dug deep in the dying minutes and found a time good enough for third on the grid, ahead of Colin Turkington's WSR-run 320si.

Andrew Jordan qualified a career-best fifth in the third of the works Vauxhalls, while Jonathan Adam was an excellent sixth for Motorbase on his BTCC debut.

Gordon Shedden put on a late show in his Team Dynamics Honda, finding a couple of tenths to move up to seventh, ahead of Stephen Jelley's WSR BMW.

Jelley had looked set for a top six spot on the grid, but slid off at Paddock Hill Bend with 18 minutes gone and beached his car in the gravel, bringing out the red flags. He dropped to eighth by the chequered flag.

Former champion Jason Plato and Adam Jones, on their first outings for RML Chevrolet and Clyde Valley Racing SEAT respectively, completed the top 10.

Tom Chilton was the best of the Arena Ford drivers, qualifying 16th, just a spot ahead of series debutant Liam McMillan.

McMillan was using a down-on-power spare engine in his Maxtreme SEAT Toledo following a problem with his number one unit in practice. Alan Morrison was 19th in the second Focus.

Pos Driver                 Car             Time       Gap
 1. Matt Neal              Vauxhall        48.857
 2. Fabrizio Giovanardi    Vauxhall        48.877  +0.020
 3. Rob Collard            BMW             48.926  +0.069
 4. Colin Turkington       BMW             49.022  +0.165
 5. Andrew Jordan          Vauxhall        49.073  +0.216
 6. Jonathan Adam          BMW             49.121  +0.264
 7. Gordon Shedden         Honda           49.180  +0.323
 8. Stephen Jelley         BMW             49.227  +0.370
 9. Jason Plato            Chevrolet       49.514  +0.657
10. Adam Jones             SEAT            49.611  +0.754
11. Harry Vaulkhard        Chevrolet       49.649  +0.792
12. Dan Eaves              SEAT            49.756  +0.899
13. John George            Honda           49.881  +1.024
14. David Pinkney          Honda           49.886  +1.029
15. Martyn Bell            Honda           50.029  +1.172
16. Tom Chilton            Ford            50.286  +1.429
17. Liam McMillan          SEAT            50.419  +1.562
18. Martin Johnson         Vauxhall        50.502  +1.645
19. Alan Morrison          Ford            50.819  +1.962
20. Nick Leason            BMW             51.808  +2.951

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