John Ingram, on a private BMW S1000RR, took an impressive pole position in tricky conditions at Mallory Park for tomorrow's Buildbase Race of the Year, beating a host of British and World Supersport regulars.

The wet morning qualification was topped by James Ellison on his Bogdanka PTR Honda Fireblade. That time set on wet tyres kept him in fifth place as he did not improve in the afternoon session that started damp but dried towards the end.

Ingram, a race winner in the Buildbase Mallory Trophy series, showed real quality to take pole, switching to slicks with minutes to go. He will be a force to be reckoned with in the race, whether wet or dry.

Ingram said: "That'll do us. It is not what we expected but it is what we came for. The track conditions were difficult and we went out on wet tyres and changed to slicks for the last three laps and managed to take pole. Our game plan was to see what the grip was like and switch to slicks and it worked. 

"To finish on the podium here would be great tomorrow, I need to keep my expectations real. The forecast is dry but maybe some showers so it could be a very interesting race."

Pre-race favourite Sam Lowes on the Parkalgar Honda did not go out in the morning session and did not risk anything in the afternoon, taking a safe fourth. He said: "The track conditions were difficult with it damp and drying - you just didn't know how hard you could push. I rode safely to take fourth and that's good enough for me - there are no prizes for today."

QUALIFICATION TIMES

1: John Ingram 56.142

2: Luke Stapleford 56.272

3: Christian Iddon 56.404

4: Sam Lowes 56.417

5: James Ellison 56.456

6: Billy McConnell 56.854