After losing the points lead to his two team-mates at Knockhill, Tom Chilton was determined to reassert himself in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying at Brands Hatch this afternoon.

The 21-year-old was not to be disappointed, qualifying just over one-hundredth-of-a-second in front of Italian team-mate, Fabrizio Giovanardi.

Chilton, from Reigate, was not exactly where he wanted to be, however, after the Vauxhalls struggled on the undulating Kent track, qualifying eighth, ninth and 12th overall for tomorrow’s races.

Tom Chilton: “I can only try my best to tomorrow. The most important thing will be to keep my place and not go backwards in the race. I need to get a good start and keep out of trouble to chip away at the places.

“It’s very hard to string a lap together around here. We’ve got the most competitors racing here this weekend on the shortest circuit so there’s a lot of traffic. All three Vauxhall drivers didn’t get a free lap.”

Fabrizio Giovanardi: “I was really fast in the beginning but at the end I did a bad time. My laps felt good but the times are bad. I don’t understand it.

“I tried to push more and my feeling was good – no mistakes and the time was worse. It’s quite strange. We will have to study the information tonight to see if something is wrong on the car or if I’ve made a mistake.”

Gavin Smith: “Last year I qualified on the front row here so I’m disappointed. I felt as if I drove the best I could. I’ll do the best job I can tomorrow to get as many points for Vauxhall as I can. Tomorrow’s another day.”