Team BMR’s Jason Plato set the pace in first practice for the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Oulton Park – posting a blistering lap time that saw him go 0.636 seconds clear of second-fastest Tom Ingram.
Plato puts his Volkswagen CC at the top of the times after just over ten minutes and was not beaten thereafter, with his advantage initially standing at a significant eight tenths of a second.
Speedworks Motorsport’s Ingram went second fastest with just a minute and a half still to go, to close the margin between Plato and the rest to 0.636 seconds.
Only two other drivers were within a second of Plato, with MG’s Andrew Jordan third fastest, ahead of the second Team BMR Volkswagen of Árón Smith, who had been the fastest driver during the first five minutes of the 40-minute session.
Colin Turkington made it three BMR cars in the top five by going fifth fastest, ahead of the second MG of Jack Goff in sixth.
WSR’s Andy Priaulx was seventh fastest and the top BMW driver, ahead of Power Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook in eighth.
Works Honda duo Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal completed the top ten, with the two Civic drivers separated by just 0.049 seconds.
Whilst the top four drivers were covered by one second, the drivers in positions five to 18 were covered by the next second, emphasising the scale of advantage that Plato enjoyed in the session.
Derek Palmer Jr, racing the sole Paras Racing Infiniti this weekend, ended the session in 24th, almost four seconds off the pace.
Both Welch Motorsport Proton Gen-2 cars of Dan Welch and Andy Wilmot took part in the session, although the latter completed just four laps due to continuing technical issues on his car.
Top times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 99 | Jason PLATO |  |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:25.671 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 1:26.307 | 0.636 | |
| 3 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 17 | 1:26.457 | 0.786 |
| 4 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 1:26.534 | 0.863 | |
| 5 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 1:26.727 | 1.056 | |
| 6 | 31 | M | Jack GOFF | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 18 | 1:26.758 | 1.087 |
| 7 | 111 | C | Andy PRIAULX | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:26.791 | 1.120 |
| 8 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 19 | 1:26.901 | 1.230 | |
| 9 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:26.988 | 1.317 |
| 10 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:27.037 | 1.366 |
| 11 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 13 | 1:27.146 | 1.475 | |
| 12 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 20 | 1:27.331 | 1.660 | |
| 13 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 20 | 1:27.360 | 1.689 | |
| 14 | 39 | Warren SCOTT | |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:27.379 | 1.708 | |
| 15 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 17 | 1:27.391 | 1.720 | |
| 16 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
AmD Tuning.com | Ford Focus | 20 | 1:27.445 | 1.774 | |
| 17 | 7 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:27.653 | 1.982 |
| 18 | 6 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:27.655 | 1.984 |
| 19 | 11 | Simon BELCHER | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:28.244 | 2.573 | |
| 20 | 54 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 16 | 1:28.363 | 2.692 | |
| 21 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:28.717 | 3.046 | |
| 22 | 101 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 17 | 1:29.044 | 3.373 | |
| 23 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Houseman Racing | Toyota Avensis | 20 | 1:29.281 | 3.610 | |
| 24 | 22 | M | Derek PALMER Jr | |
Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 19 | 1:29.566 | 3.895 |
| 25 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing | Ford Focus | 14 | 1:29.871 | 4.200 | |
| 26 | 13 | Dan WELCH | |
Welch Motorsport | Proton Gen-2 | 21 | 1:29.956 | 4.285 | |
| 27 | 23 | Kieran GALLAGHER | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 19 | 1:31.109 | 5.438 | |
| 28 | 12 | Andy WILMOT | |
Welch Motorsport | Proton Gen-2 | 4 | 1:48.995 | N/A |