Colin Turkington was fastest in the final British Touring Car Championship practice session of the year at Brands Hatch, making the most of a dry track before rain started to fall to again finish quicker than Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff.
Having set the initial early pace, Turkington then spent some time in his garage and left the rest of the field to clear what little dampness was left from last night’s downpour, before returning to the track in the second half of the session where he set a fastest time of 1:32.087s which would not be beaten.
After a 15-minute delay before the start of the session, drivers were able to exit the pitlane with the sun still in the sky. A number of drivers again chose to remain on track after their initial laps, and it became immediately apparent that the track had dried significantly as Turkington posted a 1:43.895s, which was faster than his benchmark time from first practice.
Matt Neal was however the first man to post a time that was anything close to a representative time, and his lap of 1:34.743s left him at the top of the standings for a significant period of the session, before lowering his time to a 1:33.168s, which he finished the session with.
MG-man Tordoff was able to break Neal’s stranglehold on the top spot shortly before the halfway mark, as laps of 1:32.806s and 1:32.717s put him in first, with Jack Goff slotting his Volkswagen CC into second.
More cars took to the track thereafter, with Andrew Jordan moving into second with two fast laps, while Ollie Jackson’s appearance on track meant that all 30 cars had at least toured the circuit. Gordon Shedden and Jordan then moved into the top two position, before Turkington stole into first place with a string of laps, with a third effort putting him 0.948s clear at the time and yielding the eventual session-best.
By this point, the clouds were starting to look particularly grey overhead, but there was still time for Plato and Tordoff to move up, with the former moving into second having spent the first part of the session anonymously in the lower half of the order with a time of 1:32.126s.
That lap came just before a red flag was shown, and while the time remaining in the session was frozen, the rain began to fall with increasing intensity to the point where, when the session restarted with just under ten minutes remaining, all of the cars were fitted with wet tyres and had their headlights on. That running may nevertheless prove valuable later on this afternoon, with rain forecast for qualifying.
With times around 16s slower than what drivers had been able to set in the dry, Turkington’s first was secure ahead of the pair of MGs. Shedden’s one-time fastest lap was good enough for fourth ahead of Jordan, while Goff had another good run to sixth ahead of Adam Morgan. Aron Smith and Alain Menu were line astern in eighth and ninth, with Neal completing the top ten.
The final qualifying session of the season is timetabled to start at 15:35 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:31.729 | |
| 2 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 11 | 1:32.126 | 0.397 |
| 3 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 15 | 1:32.338 | 0.609 |
| 4 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 11 | 1:32.677 | 0.948 |
| 5 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 13 | 1:32.700 | 0.971 |
| 6 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:32.906 | 1.177 |
| 7 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 1:32.968 | 1.239 |
| 8 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:33.072 | 1.343 |
| 9 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 11 | 1:33.167 | 1.438 |
| 10 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 14 | 1:33.168 | 1.439 |