Daniel Rowbottom claimed his third Kwik Fit BTCC pole in a frantic top-10 shoot-out qualifying session at Donington Park.
NAPA Racing Fords dominated the first qualifying session of the year, with Ashley Sutton leading the first part (which settled the top-10 shoot-out participants) and Rowbottom then going fastest when it really mattered in the final 15-minutes.
Rowbottom's pole time of 1m07.598s put him just 0.041s quicker than teammate Sutton in the final segment. Sutton had set a 1m07.486s lap, but that was wiped out for exceeding track limits and moments later his teammate capitalised to grab top spot.
An on the edge last effort from Sutton wasn't quite enough, despite setting an overall best middle sector time.
The Ford duo were just ahead of lead BMW runner Jake Hill, who was exactly one tenth of a second behind with a late flyer of his own.
Colin Turkington, one of a number of drivers to lose a lap to track limits was fourth in his 330e M Sport, just over a tenth behind teammate Hill and a similar distance clear of the third NAPA Ford of Daniel Cammish.
Reigning champion Tom Ingram was only able to take sixth spot on the grid for the first race of the season in his Hyundai i30N, with Josh Cook the lead Honda runner in seventh for One Motorsport.
The third BMW of Adam Morgan took eighth ahead of impressive newcomer Andrew Watson (Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra), while Ricky Collard put his Toyota Corolla into the top-10 shoot-out, but was unable to participate after his fuel line split at the end of the first segment.
The best time of qualifying was actually set in the first segment, with Sutton's 1m07.570 the benchmark.
While the best times in the first part of qualifying were set towards the start of the half hour, attentions quickly turned to who would make it into the shoot-out in the final stages. Newcomer Watson, who had spent the majority of the session skirting around the fringes of the top-10, was the driver who did it, setting the eighth fastest time, moments before a red flag ended the session fractionally early after Nick Halstead spun his Hyundai into the gravel
Outside the top-10, it was an impressive qualifying debut for Hyundai driver Ronan Pearson, who qualified 11th ahead of his first BTCC races, and just missing out on the top-10 shoot-out.
The first BTCC race of the season is due to commence at 11.30 tomorrow (Sunday).
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Donington Park qualifying top-10 shoot-out result:
1. Daniel Rowbottom, Ford Focus ST, 1m07.598s
2. Ashley Sutton, Ford Focus ST, +0.041s
3. Jake Hill, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.100s
4. Colin Turkington, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.212s
5. Daniel Cammish, Ford Focus ST, +0.329s
6. Tom Ingram, Hyundai i30N, +0.416s
7. Josh Cook, Honda Civic Type-R, +0.536s
8. Adam Morgan, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.717s
9. Andrew Watson, Vauxhall Astra, +1.343s
10. Ricky Collard, Toyota Corolla GR Sport, no time set
Click here for full result
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