Jack Goff extends pole position run at Brands Hatch

Jack Goff continued his rich run of form in BTCC qualifying sessions by securing pole position for the opening race of the 2018 season at Brands Hatch.

The Eurotech driver went into the new campaign having topped the qualifying times in the final two rounds of 2017, and emerged as the man to beat in a dramatic session where one of the series newcomers had looked set to enjoy a moment of glory before being hit with a penalty.

The early stages of the session saw the whole field rushing out onto the circuit with the possibility of rain falling, although the conditions would ultimately remain dry throughout.

Amongst those drivers to hit the front early on was the Honda of Dan Cammish, with the two-time Porsche champion quickly vaulting to the top of the times as he showed his speed in practice was no flash in the pan. Cammish would become the first driver in the session to go below 48s but then lost all of his times when he was found to have jumped a red light in the pits.

That allowed Goff into top spot and despite the best efforts of Cammish in the final minutes, pole was secured for the Eurotech squad for the second season in succession; team boss Jeff Smith having topped the times twelve months ago.

Goff will be joined on the front row of the grid by the returning Sam Tordoff who produced a strong run in the Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus, with Colin Turkington’s BMW being joined by Cammish on row two.

Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal share the third row of the grid, with the top eight rounded out by Tom Chilton and Matt Simpson.

Having downplayed expectations coming into the weekend, qualifying would prove to be challenging for the BMR Racing Subaru Levorgs, with defending champion Ash Sutton down in 18th place and Jason Plato only 29th.

However, the close nature of the grid was reflected in the fact that less than 1.2secs covered Goff in pole down to debutant Sam Smelt in 32nd.