Stockton shines on BTC debut.

Chris Stockton put in a stunning performance in qualifying at Brands Hatch to secure a place on the eighth row of the grid for this first meeting in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Ahead of the debut meeting for the BTC Racing team, Stockton had admitted that the team wasn't getting carried away with the challenges faced with the former SpeedEquipe Lexus IS200s - which found the going tough during 2005 - and the he would be happy to lift them off the back of the grid as work begins to improve the cars for a full season assault on the BTCC next season.

However, from the opening practice session, Stockton's pace suggested that the few changes already made have worked and come qualifying he was able to overcome the hurdle of 45 kilos of late entry ballast to secure his place as the leading Lexus on the grid in 16th - just edging out highly rated Xero driver Adam Jones and being within half a second of BTCC veteran James Kaye.

"Qualifying went as well as we could have hoped," Stockton admitted. "We don't think we could have got more out of the car in its current guise. We know that we are heavy and we also know there are a lot of things still to do, we had a list of 30 jobs prior to the weekend and only managed to do five of them as we have only had the car a week. We know there are more improvements to come and we are very pleased to be well up the independents. We realistically know that there is still a long way to go, about 1.5secs to pole, but it is a really healthy start."

Team-mate Darren Dowling was unable to match Stockton's pace as he qualified 20th, just under a second further back, but he said his aims for race day were simple.

"I felt the car didn't go fast enough in that session!" he said. "I had understeer and oversteer so we have just got to see how to balance out the car. That is the main problem at the moment. My aim for the races if the finish - higher than last!"