The BTC Touring qualifying session ended with Egg Sport stand-in driver taking pole position for both sprint and feature races. For the sprint he is accompanied on the front row by fellow Astra Coupe driver Yvan Muller, and for the feature Jason Plato will start alongside him. Priaulx, 27, capitalised on the fact that his car is carrying considerably less ballast than his team-mates, but to take two pole positions with less than two hours driving time in the car is still a remarkable achievement.

The second row for the sprint race consists of Plato and Thompson, with Soper and Eaves behind, and the two Alfa Romeos of Harvey and Blair being split by Erdos' Lexus. For the feature race however, Steve Soper has shown that he and the VLR Peugeot team are making progress, by out-qualifying Thompson to take fourth spot on the grid, only 0.691 seconds off the pole position time. Positions 6 through 9 are the same as for the sprint race.

The slightly different grids to usual will no doubt lead to some interesting racing with the possibility of the Peugeot Coupes, and especially that of Steve Soper, challenging the Astras during the two races on Sunday. The battle at the front though will be about championship points, with Muller, Plato and Thompson all wanting to do their best to keep their challenge for the title alive.