Tom Onslow-Cole survived an early scare in qualifying to snare pole for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season finale at Brands Hatch.
The eBay Motors man had coasted into the pits early on with a broken throttle cable on his BMW 320si but was able to get back to the garage to have the part replaced. Back on track he then stormed ot the top of the times before being demoted in the closing seconds behind Andrew Jordan.
Running behind on track however, Onslow-Cole bettered the mark set by the Pirtek Racing ace to his first pole of the year.
“I've got my team to thank so much,” he said. “Firstly for the fix on the throttle cable which enabled me to get back out there. Then for the communication on that last lap – I didn't realise how close it was with Jordan and all I could hear on my radio was my engineer screaming 'keep pushing!' Unbelievable…”
Jordan was second quickest ahead of Matt Neal's Honda, with the defending champion sharing row two of the grid with Rob Collard's BMW,
Jason Plato could only manage fifth – the first time he has been off the front row in the second half of the year – but ended his session parked in the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend after going off on his final lap.
Adam Morgan took a fine sixth in his Toyota with points leader
Gordon Shedden seventh and debutant Aaron Williamson a hugely impressive eighth in the Team HARD Honda Civic.
“There was nothing left in the car – that was the most I could get from it with the extra success ballast on board,” Shedden said as he bids to win a first title. “It makes it interesting for tomorrow, eh?”
Mat Jackson and Dave Newsham rounded out the top ten.