Colin Turkington has claimed pole position in the final Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying session of the season after the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing driver produced an incredible effort at Brands Hatch.

The 30-minute session was punctuated by two rain showers and a stoppage following a dramatic accident involving Aron Smith’s VW, but it was double champion Turkington who starred as the chequered flag fell.

Tom Ingram led the way during the first of two drizzly spells, before Smith’s incident interrupted proceedings. The Irishman’s machine looked to suffer from a tyre issue before sliding into the gravel and rolling onto its roof at the exit of Hawthorn’s. Smith was unharmed in the relatively slow speed accident, but the lengthy stoppage to retrieve his stricken car also brought about further rain from the dark clouds in Kent.

A vigorous attempt to dry the track surface followed with car-after-car clocking up the laps as conditions improved. Times gradually edged towards Ingram’s benchmark, before Turkington’s Subaru Levorg eventually broke free by more than a second.

Ingram made one final attempt to retake pole position but the Speedworks Motorsport driver fell short by just 0.006s, whilst Rob Austin’s Toyota and Jason Plato’s Subaru looked to have completed the second row. Those positions changed post-qualifying, however, when Ingram’s Toyota failed ride height checks and he will start tomorrow’s opener from the back of the grid. Subsequently Austin and Plato will now line-up in second and third respectively.

Hunter Abbott’s rich vein of qualifying form continued as the Power Maxed Racing driver took fourth following Ingram’s penalty, whilst Josh Cook – pace-setter during both practice sessions – had to settle for fifth in his MG6.

Team IHG Rewards Club’s Jack Goff was sixth, ahead of reigning champion Gordon Shedden – critically the Halford Yuasa Racing star finishing in front of five fellow championship contenders.

The Mercedes duo of Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan were next up, but it was the following quartet of runners that provided further focus on the championship picture.

Standings leader Sam Tordoff was tenth, immediately ahead of title rivals Matt Neal, Rob Collard and Andrew Jordan. The second Motorbase Ford of Mat Jackson struggled down in 19th – the lowest of the eight remaining championship contenders.

An unprecedented number of drivers remain in contention to win the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, which will be decided during tomorrow’s triple-header showdown around the legendary Grand Prix circuit.

West Surrey Racing’s Tordoff currently leads the way but he faces a challenge from a number of deadly duos, plus his own team-mate Collard. Honda’s partnership of Shedden and Neal have been there before, as have Subaru’s Turkington and Plato, whilst Motorbase Performance’s combination of Jackson and Jordan have fast become one of the most talented line-ups in the series.

So Brands Hatch is set to play host to three unmissable races, which will determine the outcome to one of the hardest-fought championships in history. A huge crowd is expected to descend on the hallowed Kent venue, with many, many more watching every second live and exclusively on ITV4.

2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Qualifying – Brands Hatch GP:

1 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing 1m31.838s2 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +0.214s3 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.221s4 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +0.228s5 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.258s6 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +0.366s7 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.482s8 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +0.553s9 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.743s10 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.849s11 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.019s12 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +1.142s13 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +1.247s14 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +1.257s15 Ash SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +1.261s16 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +1.541s17 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +1.563s18 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +1.578s19 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +1.725s20 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +2.065s21 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +2.247s22 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +2.726s23 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +2.900s24 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +2.955s25 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +3.130s26 Tony GILHAM (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +3.984s27 Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing +4.041s28 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +5.050s29 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +5.691s30 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +6.428s31 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport