Shedden won the early battle of the weekend to put the Honda on pole
Scotland's Gordon Shedden has qualified on pole position for the first of tomorrow's three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire - and immediately dedicated his achievement to fellow countryman David Leslie.
Shedden, driving a Team Halfords Honda Civic, became embroiled in a fierce battle for top spot on the grid with former team-mate Matt Neal and came out ahead by 0.227s with a best lap of 1m24.327s.
The Dalgety Bay-based driver dedicated his pole to Leslie who died in last month's air accident near Biggin Hill in Kent.
Shedden said: "It's great for everyone in my team but this is for David. I hope I can go on and get a win or two for him tomorrow as well.
"But it's going to be tough. I know Matt and I know how much he wants to win, but I'm confident. We've done some very good development work with our car in the week and we're in very strong shape."
Former double champion Neal, now driving for the VX Racing team in its title-winning Vauxhall Vectra VXR, set the second best time with a lap in 1m24.554s.
A shock third - outperforming both factory SEAT Leon TDIs - was rising star Adam Jones in his privately-entered Team Air Cool SEAT Leon. The Spanish make's factory turbo-diesel Leons of Darren Turner and Jason Plato were fourth and fifth ahead of Vauxhall's Tom Onslow-Cole in sixth.
Points leader Fabrizio Giovanardi - his Vectra laden with maximum success ballast - was back in tenth, one place behind his current nearest championship rival Mat Jackson's BMW Dealer Team UK BMW 320si.
Tomorrow’s three BTCC rounds will receive live afternoon coverage on ITV4 from 12.30pm-5.30pm.
Leading qualifying times:
Pos./Driver (NAT), Team/Car, Time
1. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, 1m24.327s
2. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.227s
3. Adam Jones (GBR), Team Air Cool/SEAT Leon, +0.327s
4. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.335s
5. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, + 0.433s
6. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.443s
7. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, + 0.477s
8. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, + 0.542s
9. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, +0.654s
10. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, + 0.019s
More quotes:
Matt Neal, aged 41 from Droitwich: “This is more like it. I was still feeling my way with the car at Brands Hatch two weeks ago, but now I’m really getting to grips with it. I thought we’d got pole but Gordon put in a great lap right at the end. But being on the front row means I’m in a position to go out and score lots of points. I need to make the most of it.”
Adam Jones, aged 27 from Solihull: “That’s my best qualifying performance in the BTCC and of course I’m delighted, but more pleasing is that this shows just how much effort the team has put in. We only got the car finished the day before Brands Hatch but every time out we’ve made progress. The team also had to do a quick engine change before qualifying after we had problems in second practice so full credit to all my mechanics.”
Meanwhile, several drivers struck trouble. The cars of Turner, Steven Kane and Robert Collard (Motorbase BMW 320sis) all failed mandatory weight/ride height checks, thus lost their times so had it all to do again in the closing minutes. Kane, who had been up to fourth at one stage, managed to post the 11th fastest time on his final lap with Collard back in 16th.
Behind Kane came Mike Jordan in 12th - despite leaving the pit lane late after his John Guest Honda Integra developed a gearbox glitch at the start of the session.
Erkut Kizilirmak's Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra stopped out on track at the Tarzan hairpin. Neither Michael Doyle (In-Tune Honda Civic Type R) nor Chris Stockton (BTC Lexus IS200) took part in the session, their cars stuck in their pit garages with mechanical problems.