Michael Rutter powered the Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati to a stunning pole position at Brands Hatch this afternoon, putting 0.4 seconds between himself and the Kawasaki World Superbike of Tom Sykes, but crashed out in the final minute of the session.

Rutter was unchallenged for the pole position, despite the best efforts from his rivals who all were pushing hard to put themselves on the front row for the opening race later this afternoon.

Rutter said: "That was a great session for me until the end! I got a good tow of Josh Brookes and got my head down straight away on the new tyres and bang the time was there. I went back out to try a practice start after making a change to the traction control and I just lost the rear. We have a good set up and we will give it a good go this afternoon."

In the opening Q1 session Ryuichi Kiyonari was the fastest rider on track, as he moved ahead of Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati's Rutter and Kawasaki WSB ace Tom Sykes.

Rutter stole the advantage back by 0.068s in the second qualifying session from Kiyo as Brookes put in a lap in the closing stages to move ahead of Sykes in fourth, as James Ellison scraped inside the top ten on the Swan Honda. Simon Andrews crashed out at Druids which put him out of contention for the top ten shootout for pole. Yukio Kagayama meanwhile, survived an off track excursion at Stirlings to hold on to the Worx Crescent Suzuki and finish that session seventh fastest.

Sykes ended second to equal the performance of the team from last year and will start alongside Kiyonari in third and Tommy Hill in fourth who barged Josh Brookes onto the second row.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, Swan Combi Roll for Pole result:

Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) 1m:25.766s
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki WSB) +0.421s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +0.456s
Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.522s
Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +0.638s
James Ellison (Swan Honda) +0.800s
Alastair Seeley (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.815s
Yukio Kagayama (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.931s
Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.981s
Ian Lowry (Kawasaki WSB) +1.430s