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Josh Cook hits the front in changeable opening practice

Josh Cook kicked off proceedings in the final British Touring Car Championship round of the season after setting the pace in the opening free practice session with a fastest lap time of 1:40.042, three tenths of a second ahead of Mat Jackson.

Though Cook’s MG RCIB Insurance Racing team mate Ashley Sutton, current Jack Sears Trophy leader, led the way for the majority of the running on a damp Grand Prix layout at Brands Hatch, a late surge in the final five minutes gifted the former Clio Cup ace the top spot.

Jackson placed as the highest of the record-breaking eight championship contenders in second after a similarly late run up the order, with his counterparts all electing to reserve their hands amid the unpredictable track and weather conditions.

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Standings leader Sam Tordoff could only manage an unlucky-for-some 13th, though team-mate and fellow contender Collard was able to go three tenths quicker with less success ballast on board and take ninth. Their main rivals, the Halfords Yuasa Racing duo of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, were 14th and 16th respectively.

The Subaru duo of Colin Turkington and Jason Plato, who are the contenders most likely to drop out of contention first, were only 19th and 25th, with Independent Drivers championship leader Andrew Jordan sandwiched in between them in 21st.

The top ten was completed with an unfamiliar collection of names, as late fast runs from Rob Austin, Ollie Jackson, Tom Ingram, Michael Epps, Jake Hill, Adam Morgan, Rob Collard and Jeff Smith completed the order behind Cook and Jackson.

Remarkably, the entire forty minutes of running passed without any incident of sorts to report, despite the conditions.

The second free practice session starts at 12:45 ahead of qualifying at 15:40.

Session results

POS NO CL DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 66 M Josh COOK MG Racing RCIB Insurance MG6GT 17 1:40.042 0.000
2 7 Mat JACKSON Motorbase Performance Ford Focus 16 1:40.408 0.366
3 11 Rob AUSTIN Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis 18 1:40.936 0.894
4 48 Ollie JACKSON AmD Tuning Audi S3 17 1:41.208 1.166
5 80 Tom INGRAM Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis 15 1:41.521 1.479
6 12 Mike EPPS RCIB Insurance Racing Toyota Avensis 18 1:42.056 2.014
7 24 Jake HILL RCIB Insurance Racing Toyota Avensis 15 1:42.087 2.045
8 33 Adam MORGAN WIX Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class 14 1:42.136 2.094
9 100 C Rob COLLARD Team JCT600 with GardX BMW 125i M Sport 16 1:42.544 2.502
10 55 Jeff SMITH Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R 15 1:42.579 2.537
11 14 Alex MARTIN Dextra Racing with Team Parker Ford Focus 20 1:42.621 2.579
12 116 M Ashley SUTTON MG Racing RCIB Insurance MG6GT 16 1:42.905 2.863
13 600 C Sam TORDOFF Team JCT600 with GardX BMW 125i M Sport 17 1:42.938 2.896
14 25 M Matt NEAL Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R 15 1:43.114 3.072
15 16 Aiden MOFFAT Laser Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class 14 1:43.361 3.319
16 52 M Gordon SHEDDEN Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R 14 1:43.784 3.742
17 303 Matt SIMPSON Speedworks Motorsport Honda Civic Type R 14 1:43.797 3.755
18 40 Árón SMITH BKR Volkswagen CC 17 1:43.813 3.771
19 4 M Colin TURKINGTON Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Subaru Levorg GT 16 1:43.909 3.867
20 31 C Jack GOFF Team IHG Rewards Club BMW 125i M Sport 14 1:44.339 4.297
21 77 Andrew JORDAN Motorbase Performance Ford Focus 17 1:44.394 4.352
22 17 Dan WELCH Goodestone Racing Proton Persona 18 1:44.413 4.371
23 53 Hunter ABBOTT Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze 18 1:44.534 4.492
24 20 M James COLE Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Subaru Levorg GT 19 1:44.542 4.500
25 99 M Jason PLATO Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Subaru Levorg GT 13 1:44.553 4.511
26 95 Stewart LINES Maximum Motorsport Ford Focus 21 1:44.794 4.752
27 34 Tony GILHAM TLC Racing Toyota Avensis 14 1:44.937 4.895
28 38 Mark HOWARD BKR Volkswagen CC 19 1:45.137 5.095
29 84 Kelvin FLETCHER Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze 11 1:45.489 5.447
30 30 Martin DEPPER Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R 16 1:45.666 5.624
31 39 M Warren SCOTT Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Subaru Levorg GT 16 1:46.431 6.389

Complete session results.

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