Tom Chilton outshone the more experienced stars at Brands Hatch this afternoon by snatching pole position for tomorrow’s opening round of the 2006 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

The 21-year-old, from Reigate, put in a dream lap to eclipse the SEAT Leon of main rival, Jason Plato, who finished second 0.07s behind.

“These guys are some of the best drivers in the world,” said an ecstatic Chilton, who was making his debut for VX Racing. “They’ve been around for years and years – they were my heroes when I was at school! It feels great to beat them but I’m still learning something every race.”

Six-time touring car champion, Fabrizio Giovanardi, struggled with the set up of his VX Astra Sport Hatch but still managed to put the car on the third row with a time of 49.312s.

“I’m not happy,” said the Italian, who is also a new signing for the Banbury-based team. “I was never able to attack. The feeling with the car was too light. I think this morning I made a mistake on the set up but I’m not worried about the race. I’ve started from tenth and won races. Now we just have to work on the car because if I start the race with this set up it will be difficult to gain places.”

VXR’s third driver, Gavin Smith, was faster in this morning’s free practice than in qualifying and ended in sixth for tomorrow’s race. “I think I pushed a little too hard,” said the Irishman. “When you get the tyres to the right temperature you’ve got to lean on them but I got it wrong and destroyed them. Third row is very doable though. I’m not worried.”

After the day’s first free practice session, in which the SEATs finished first and second, VXR feared the 65kg weight advantage enjoyed by the Leons would deflate VXR’s hopes of a win this weekend. But the surprise pole from Chilton, which came 22 minutes into the half-hour session, throws tomorrow’s races wide open.

“The SEATs were looking really on-form and they have a pretty hefty weight advantage,” said VX Racing’s operations manager Mike Nicholson. “Halfway through qualifying we were fourth, fifth and sixth, which is where I’d expected us to be based on the earlier free practice. Then suddenly Tom just popped one in.

“Now he’s just got to get a good start and keep on the defensive in tomorrow’s race.”

The season’s first race will start tomorrow at 11.20am; the second and third races are scheduled to start at 13.25 and 15.50, the third being televised live on ITV1.