Turkington on pole at Brands Hatch

The Team RAC driver set a fastest time of 49.532 seconds around the Indy Circuit in his BMW 320si after a fantastic battle with SEAT's Jason Plato.

"It was extremely close, as it always is," Turkington told autosport.com.

"I'm delighted for Team RAC, they really have done a brilliant job. We only shook the car down on Monday and it's really only my third day in it. But tomorrow is the day that matters."

With an entry list of 26 cars the 30-minute qualifying session was a fraught affair for some teams. Second-placed Plato, in the SEAT Leon, was just 0.016 seconds adrift.

He said: "I never got a clear lap. It's always nice to be on pole and never nice just to miss it."

Lining up third on the grid is Plato's SEAT teammate Darren Turner, who didn't finish the session after going off at Druids with brake problems.

VX Racing's Fabrizio Giovanardi will be alongside him on the grid after experiencing some small problems with the new Vectra, but said he was pleased with fourth "when you compare us with the cars in front".

The BMW is renowned for its start-line pace and second-placed Plato is expecting Turkington to maintain his advantage in tomorrow's first race.

He said: "We know from the World Touring Car Championship that they have a huge advantage off the start line. The very best we are going to be is second into the first corner, so we have to concentrate on the race pace."

Reigning champion Matt Neal, who only got his hands on the new Honda Civic within the past fortnight, was 0.367 seconds off the pace and qualified ninth.

"I maybe could have gone a bit quicker, but that's about what's in it [the car]," he said. "We've got to be realistic about tomorrow, we are not going to be challenging for the podium."

Pos  Driver               Car                   Time    Laps
 1.  Colin Turkington     BMW 320si E90         49.532   24
 2.  Jason Plato          SEAT Leon             +0.016   26
 3.  Darren Turner        SEAT Leon             +0.120    9
 4.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall Vectra       +0.155   22
 5.  Tom Chilton          Vauxhall Vectra       +0.204   22
 6.  Mat Jackson          BMW 320si E90         +0.218   26
 7.  Tom Onslow-Cole      BMW 320si E90         +0.230   29
 8.  Mike Jordan          Honda Integra         +0.251   31
 9.  Matt Neal            Honda Civic           +0.367   19
10.  Adam Jones           SEAT Toledo Cupra     +0.501   22
11.  Matt Allison         SEAT Toledo Cupra     +0.508   19
12.  Eoin Murray          Alfa Romeo 156        +0.530    5
13.  Gareth Howell        SEAT Toledo Cupra     +0.581   24
14.  Gordon Shedden       Honda Civic           +0.630   15
15.  Jason Hughes         MG ZS                 +0.806   22
16.  Chris Stockton       Lexus IS200           +1.061   23
17.  Dave Pinkney         Alfa Romeo 156        +1.098   22
18.  Martyn Bell          BMW 320i E46          +1.109   25
19.  Erkut Kizilirmak     Vauxhall Astra Sport  +1.256   29
20.  Fiona Leggate        MG ZS                 +1.342   27
21.  Simon Blanckley      Honda Integra         +1.633   27
22.  John George          Honda Integra         +1.657   18
23.  Jim Pocklington      BMW 320i E46          +3.108   17
24.  Nick Leason          Lexus IS200           +3.502   22
25.  Rick Kerry           BMW 120D              +4.054   21
26.  Richard Marsh        Alfa Romeo 156        +7.973    4