Tom Ingram set the pace in the first British Touring Car Championship practice session of the season at Brands Hatch, ahead of Matt Neal and debutant Josh Cook.
21 year-old Ingram posted a number of fastest laps in the last quarter of the 40-minute session, eventually setting a fastest time of 50.665s which put him half a second clear of Neal in greasy conditions.
The majority of cars headed promptly down the pitlane at 10:00 to officially mark the start of the season, with wet tyres the initial weapon of choice on a damp but drying track.
That meant that the early running offered little in terms of representative times, with Hunter Abbott fastest in the early stages ahead of Andrew Jordan.
Team BMR, who continue to sport the black livery that they used during testing, then showed their hand as Jason Plato went fastest with 25 minutes to go, first posting a 53.283s before going a second faster than anyone on a 52.682s, with teammate and reigning champion Colin Turkington slotting into second as the cars fitted slick tyres for the first time.
There was then a moment of calm before the times started to tumble in the final ten minutes of the session, with a number of rookies posting impressive lap times. Kieran Gallagher briefly went third fastest in his Team HARD. Toyota Avensis, while Cook then slotted into fourth after early impressive runs from Alex Martin and Mike Bushell.
But fter going second, it was Ingram who then hit the front of the field with just over five minutes of the session remaining as he became the first man to break the 52s barrier with a time of 51.945s.
With a good grasp of conditions, he continued to improve his pace until the end of the session as Neal emerged as his closest challenger with two minutes remaining in his Civic Type R, while Cook proved that his early lap was no fluke as he finished the session in third.
Rob Collard was only slightly further behind in fourth, ahead of Dave Newsham who made it a strong start to the season for Power Maxed Racing. Andy Priaulx was sixth, ahead of Árón Smith who ended the session as the fastest Team BMR driver, marginally ahead of Warren Scott, Hunter Abbott and Simon Belcher.
26 of the 27 cars posted a lap time, with only Andy Wilmot staying in the garage for the entirety of the session.
Second practice gets underway at 12:45.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 | Tom INGRAM |  |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 25 | 50.665 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 28 | 51.177 | 0.512 |
| 3 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 26 | 51.554 | 0.889 | |
| 4 | 6 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 51.636 | 0.971 |
| 5 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 26 | 51.830 | 1.165 | |
| 6 | 111 | C | Andy PRIAULX | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 29 | 51.941 | 1.276 |
| 7 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 30 | 52.095 | 1.430 | |
| 8 | 39 | Warren SCOTT | |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 22 | 52.127 | 1.462 | |
| 9 | 54 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 29 | 52.348 | 1.683 | |
| 10 | 11 | Simon BELCHER | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 30 | 52.566 | 1.901 |