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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