Kristensen takes Brands pole

Kristensen has been consistently fast throughout free practice and duly delivered when it came to the final knockout qualifying session, setting the fastest time before changing tyres in the pits and bettering it on a subsequent run.

His lap of 42.406 seconds was a quarter of a second quicker than home favourite Jamie Green. The Mercedes driver had been fastest in both of the first two knockout sessions previously, but was unable to match Kristensen's pace in the final seven-minute pole shoot-out.

Heinz Harald Frentzen qualified third after only completing one flying lap in the final session, due to a spectacular crash at Paddock Hill Bend.

Frentzen's Audi A4 started to spin in the entry of Brands Hatch's most famous corner, and he spun into the tyre wall with little speed having been scrubbed off the car through the gravel trap. The damage to the car looked severe, however Frentzen climbed out of the car unhurt.

The former Formula One driver had been lucky to make it through to the final knockout session to begin with.

The German ran off the road and through the grass entering Clearways in the second session and pulled into the pits for his mechanics to repair the damage.

He then had a nervous few moments in the pits as his rivals set laps to attempt to take his place in the final shoot-out. However, no one was able to knock him out of the session.

Former champion Mattias Ekstrom was fourth quickest in his Audi, ahead of Bruno Spengler's Mercedes and Bernd Schneider's Mercedes.

Mika Hakkinen qualified eighth after crashing out at virtually the same time as Frentzen.

Hakkinen, about to start his first flying lap, ran wide onto the gravel at the final corner and spun round into the pitwall, putting him out of the session.

Pos  Driver       Make           Q1       Q2       Q3
 1.  Kristensen   Audi      06   42.880   42.825   42.406
 2.  Green        Mercedes  06   42.706   42.674   42.654
 3.  Frentzen     Audi      06   43.098   42.925   42.696
 4.  Ekstrom      Audi      06   42.910   42.706   42.699
 5.  Spengler     Mercedes  06   42.877   42.753   42.740
 6.  Schneider    Mercedes  06   42.951   42.795   42.771
 7.  Tomczyk      Audi      06   42.901   42.904   42.896
 8.  Hakkinen     Mercedes  06   43.011   42.754   94.878
 9.  Abt          Audi      05   43.135   43.073
10.  Stippler     Audi      05   43.107   43.085
11.  Kaffer       Audi      05   43.003   43.115
12.  Alesi        Mercedes  05   43.223   43.157
13.  La Rosa      Mercedes  05   43.229   43.166
14.  Margaritis   Mercedes  05   43.041   43.203
15.  Scheider     Audi      05   43.238
16.  Mucke        Mercedes  05   43.292
17.  Bleekemolen  Audi      04   43.341
18.  Lauda        Mercedes  04   43.443
19.  Stoddart     Mercedes  04   43.496
20.  Ickxne       Audi      04   43.661