Tom Chilton saw his hopes of a strong grid position hit by a damper problem during qualifying for the final rounds of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.

While results haven't always been forthcoming for the Team Halfords man in a somewhat up and down season, Chilton has been one of the quickest petrol racers during the second half of the campaign and bounced back from a disappointing weekend last time out at Silverstone to run at the front of the field throughout practice.

Indeed his Honda Civic proved to be the car to beat in first practice and was then third fastest in the second session, leaving him well placed going into qualifying.

However, Chilton suddenly found himself languishing outside the top ten and a problem with the car meant he could only manage the 13th quickest time.

“I was the quickest petrol car again during practice but like at Silverstone, it just went wrong in qualifying,” he said. “We broke a damper and I actually did my best lap when the damper was broken as the Civic tends to be strongest on its third lap – and we broke it on the second.

“Without the problem, I'm confident I could have done a 49.0secs which would have been pole. It's really frustrating as its one of those things you can't do anything about. It's like being a brilliant kart racer and dominating a race - and then your chain breaks.”