Winning his first British Touring Car Championship title was always going to take something special from Gordon Shedden, and the Fifer's job got even tougher when he qualified seventh for today's opening race in the triple-header finale.

"I've known all along that getting over the finish line was never going to be straightforward," the 33-year-old from Dalgety Bay said. "So, really, this isn't much of a surprise."

With the top 13 cars covered by less than a second, Shedden's best time of 1min 32.223sec left him 0.608sec off the pole time set by Tom Onslow-Cole in his BMW.

"I'd love to have gone more quickly," added Shedden, bidding to become the first Scot to win the BTCC title since Galashiels' John Cleland in 1995. "But that was as much as I could have got out of the car. Remember, I'm running with 45kg of 'success' ballast; my two main rivals have 36 and 27kg."

Those two rivals – his Honda team-mate Matt Neal, and Jason Plato in an MG – qualified third and fifth respectively.

"From a positive perspective, at least I can keep an eye on what they're both doing," Shedden said, "but there's no denying I'd have rather been in front of them. Ideally I'd like to finish right on Plato's bumper, or ahead of him, in the first race. After that we can reassess our strategy for races two and three. But as I've said all week, it's going to be a really tough three races."

Plato, Shedden's closest rival – 15 points adrift with a maximum of 66 available today – finished qualifying stuck in the gravel, seconds after the chequered flag.

But the Oxford-based driver, who has won seven times at the Brands Hatch grand prix track, is fired up to wrestle the title from Shedden's grasp.

"This is our circuit: it's perfectly suited to the MG," Plato said. "We're here to win, and we'll be doing everything we can to take the title."

Onslow-Cole secured his first pole position of the season in his BMW, lapping the 2.4-mile Kent circuit in 1min 31.615sec on his final run.

Andrew Jordan's Honda starts second, 0.088sec off pole, with Neal third, 0.301sec back. The defending champion lines up on the second row alongside Onslow-Cole's team-mate Rob Collard.

Fellow Fife driver Rory Butcher starts third in the Porsche Carrera Cup finale. The 25-year-old from Kirkcaldy is bidding to finish third in the championship in his Celtic Speed Porsche 911.