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Toyota driver Tom Ingram takes maiden BTCC pole at Brands Hatch

Tom Ingram has taken his first career pole position in the British Touring Car Championship by topping the timesheets at Brands Hatch on Saturday

The Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis driver broke the qualifying lap record to clock a 47.990-second lap.

He was just 0.063s clear of reigning champion Gordon Shedden's Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R.

Ingram set his time half way through the session before a brief rain shower.

He was able to hold on even though some drivers improved at the end of the timed period.

Ingram said: "It is superb. The team has done an excellent job over the winter and this is a vindication of that.

"I had said all the way through the build-up to the season that it would be all about the opening qualifying period of the year. It feels fantastic."

Shedden's team-mate Matt Neal will line up in third place, ahead of Sam Tordoff's WSR BMW 125i M Sport.

The Triple Eight Racing MG pairing of rookie Ash Sutton and Josh Cook will share the third row of the grid, ahead of Adam Morgan's Ciceley Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Jack Goff's WSR BMW.

Mat Jackson (Motorbase Performance Ford Focus) and Aron Smith (Team BKR VW CC) round out the top 10 while Jackson's team-mate, 2013 champion Andrew Jordan, could only manage 14th position.

The 30-minute session is the only timed qualifying of the season that takes place without any of the cars carrying the series' mandated success ballast.

Ingram now leads the standings by dint of earning the point for gaining pole position.

Colin Turkington qualified 11th in the first of the factory-backed Team BMR Subaru Levorg.

He set a 48.453s lap, and was clear of team-mate Jason Plato, who was 23rd.

Warren Scott was 27th in the third Levorg, while James Cole was 28th.

QUALIFYING RESULTS:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota 47.990s - 26
2 Gordon Shedden Dynamics/Honda Honda 48.053s 0.063s 23
3 Matt Neal Dynamics/Honda Honda 48.101s 0.111s 29
4 Sam Tordoff WSR BMW 48.102s 0.112s 28
5 Ash Sutton Triple Eight/MG MG 48.131s 0.141s 25
6 Josh Cook Triple Eight/MG MG 48.329s 0.339s 27
7 Adam Morgan Ciceley Racing Mercedes 48.358s 0.368s 25
8 Jack Goff WSR BMW 48.381s 0.391s 23
9 Mat Jackson Motorbase Performance Ford 48.396s 0.406s 28
10 Aron Taylor-Smith Team BKR Volkswagen 48.442s 0.452s 27
11 Colin Turkington Team BMR Subaru 48.453s 0.463s 24
12 Rob Collard WSR BMW 48.473s 0.483s 27
13 Jeff Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 48.516s 0.526s 27
14 Andrew Jordan Motorbase Performance Ford 48.556s 0.566s 26
15 Rob Austin Handy Motorsport Toyota 48.567s 0.577s 27
16 Martin Depper Eurotech Racing Honda 48.620s 0.630s 26
17 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 48.653s 0.663s 24
18 Andy Neate Dynamics/Honda Honda 48.673s 0.683s 19
19 Jake Hill Team Hard Toyota 48.772s 0.782s 25
20 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 48.884s 0.894s 25
21 Hunter Abbott Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet 48.892s 0.902s 26
22 Alex Martin Team Parker Racing Ford 48.952s 0.962s 26
23 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 49.065s 1.075s 21
24 Matt Simpson Speedworks Motorsport Honda 49.078s 1.088s 29
25 Daniel Welch Welch Motorsport Proton 49.171s 1.181s 27
26 Michael Epps Team Hard Toyota 49.242s 1.252s 27
27 Warren Scott Team BMR Subaru 49.318s 1.328s 31
28 Chris Smiley Team Hard Toyota 49.328s 1.338s 26
29 James Cole Team BMR Subaru 49.403s 1.413s 25
30 Stewart Lines Maximum Motorsport Ford 49.992s 2.002s 23
31 Mark Howard Team BKR Volkswagen 50.119s 2.129s 28
32 Kelvin Fletcher Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet 50.568s 2.578s 19

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