Dan Rowbottom secured pole position during a thrilling Brands Hatch Indy qualifying session ahead of the seventh round of the BTCC.
Conditions were dry and cloudy at Brands Hatch as the Indy configuration delivered on a close field of 29 cars, 28 of whom were covered by a second.
Naturally, traffic was a topical matter with the fight to the quickest lap times on the calendar but was managed well throughout the 30-minute session.
The best times were set during the halfway point as drivers fought for the extra tenths and the heat on their tyres.
Qualifying lacked any major incidents with the only notable moment being Tom Ingram running wide and slightly off-road after Turn 1.
Dan Rowbottom continued his strong Free Practice momentum, as did teammate Gordon Shedden, to lock out the front row for Team Dynamics; just 0.005s separated the two drivers.
Jake Hill for MB Motorsport was in third following his pace asserted early on despite the 31 kg of weight ballast.
Tom Oliphant was the first of the BMW 330i M Sports with a 48.184s to be in fourth.
The Infiniti of Aiden Moffat secured fifth spot for tomorrow’s Race 1, edging Ingram. His reigning champion teammate Ash Sutton was in seventh, carrying the most ballast at 75kg.
Chris Smiley was in eighth place ahead of Josh Cook and Steven Jelley’s WSR BMW who rounded off the top-10.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Diff. from Pole |
| 1 | Daniel Rowbottom | Team Dynamics | 48.074s | — |
| 2 | Gordon Shedden | Team Dynamics | 48.079s | 0.005s |
| 3 | Jake Hill | MB Motorsport (C) | 48.179s | 0.105s |
| 4 | Tom Oliphant | Team BMW (C) | 48.184s | 0.110s |
| 5 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | 48.318s | 0.244s |
| 6 | Tom Ingram | EXCELR8 Trade Price Cars | 48.332s | 0.258s |
| 7 | Ash Sutton | Laser Tools Racing | 48.370s | 0.296s |
| 8 | Chris Smiley | EXCELR8 Trade Price Cars | 48.372s | 0.298s |
| 9 | Josh Cook | BTC Racing | 48.407s | 0.333s |
| 10 | Stephen Jelley | Team BMW (C) | 48.428s | 0.354s |
| 11 | Jack Goff | Team HARD | 48.428s | 0.354s |
| 12 | Dan Lloyd | Power Maxed Racing | 48.431s | 0.357s |
| 13 | Senna Proctor | BTC Racing | 48.433s | 0.359s |
| 14 | Colin Turkington | Team BMW (C) | 48.457s | 0.383s |
| 15 | Sam Osborne | Motorbase Performance (C) | 48.493s | 0.419s |
| 16 | Rory Butcher | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK (C) | 48.506s | 0.432s |
| 17 | Jason Plato | Power Maxed Racing | 48.533s | 0.448s |
| 18 | Carl Boardley | Laser Tools Racing | 48.580s | 0.506s |
| 19 | Ollie Jackson | MB Motorsport (C) | 48.617s | 0.543s |
| 20 | Árón Taylor-Smith | Team HARD | 48.677s | 0.603s |
| 21 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | 48.680s | 0.606s |
| 22 | Glynn Geddie | Team HARD | 48.727s | 0.653s |
| 23 | Jade Edwards | BTC Racing | 48.756s | 0.682s |
| 24 | Tom Chilton | Ciceley Motorsport | 48.885s | 0.811s |
| 25 | Rick Parfitt Jr. | EXCELR8 Trade Price Cars | 48.903s | 0.829s |
| 26 | Sam Smelt | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK (C) | 48.909s | 0.835s |
| 27 | Jack Butel | EXCELR8 Trade Price Cars | 48.982s | 0.908s |
| 28 | Andy Neate | Motorbase Performance (C) | 48.984s | 0.910s |
| 29 | Nicolas Hamilton | Team HARD | 49.325s | 1.251s |
