Colin Turkington set the pace in first practice for the British Touring Car Championship at a wet Oulton Park, finishing the session ahead of team-mate Rob Collard and MG’s Jason Plato.
A heavy and thundery downpour before the beginning of the session meant that all drivers ventured out onto the circuit on wet tyres, despite the rain stopping moments before the start of practice.
Turkington was at the top of the times throughout, with the eBay Motors BMW driver improving his time with around ten minutes to go to hold on to the top spot. Turkington was almost a second faster than team-mate Collard, who had also been second for much of the session.
MG’s Plato improved his time to go third with around six minutes remaining, the Triple Eight driver having gradually improved through the second half of the session.
Marc Hynes was fourth fastest in the Quantel BiFold MG, having been inside the top ten for much of the session, which began to dry in the closing minutes.
Rob Austin was fifth fastest in his Exocet Racing Audi, 1.479 seconds off the pace. There were problems, however, for Austin’s team-mate Hunter Abbott, who caused the only red-flag stoppage half-way through the session when his car lost power exiting Old Hall corner and stopped on the circuit.
Gordon Shedden was the top Honda driver in sixth in his Civic Tourer, ahead of reigning champion Andrew Jordan in seventh.
Sam Tordoff in eighth and Alain Menu in ninth were the last two drivers within two seconds of the pace. Nick Foster completed was tenth and made it three eBay Motors drivers inside the top ten.
Simon Belcher and Robb Holland were 27th and 28th respectively. Blecher’s Toyota has been reshelled following his Thruxton shunt, whilst Holland’s Audi is making its first appearance after suffering substantial damage at Donington Park in April. Holland reported that a problem with his power steering prevented him from setting a more competitive time during the session.
Ollie Jackson, who also crashed last time out at Thruxton, failed to post a time during the session, reporting a fuel problem with his Proton.
Second practice takes place at 12:45 BST (13:45 CEST).
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 1:53.113 | |
| 2 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 1:54.028 | 0.915 |
| 3 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 11 | 1:54.394 | 1.281 |
| 4 | 888 | M | Marc HYNES | |
Quantel Bifold Racing | MG6 | 12 | 1:54.537 | 1.424 |
| 5 | 101 | I | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet Racing | Audi A4 | 13 | 1:54.592 | 1.479 |
| 6 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 12 | 1:54.684 | 1.571 |
| 7 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 13 | 1:54.872 | 1.759 |
| 8 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 14 | 1:55.058 | 1.945 |
| 9 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 13 | 1:55.071 | 1.958 |
| 10 | 18 | I | Nick FOSTER | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:55.208 | 2.095 |