Josh Cook topped the timesheets for the final free practice session of the 2016 British Touring Car Championship season, as the MG driver posted the fastest time of a 1:43.790 around the 2.433-mile Brands Hatch Grand Prix loop, where five different brands were represented in the top five.
Cook was 0.267 seconds faster than Motorbase’s Mat Jackson, with Speedworks’ Tom Ingram putting his Toyota Avensis into the top three.
Defending champion Gordon Shedden was the second of eight title contenders to keep momentum building in fourth place, ahead of Team BKR’s Árón Smith in his Volkswagen CC. Cook’s teammate Ashley Sutton put his MG6GT into sixth, a mere 0.016 seconds behind Smith, showing some good form from the Triple Eight-backed outfit.
Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan was seventh in his Ford Focus, with WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan, Silverline Subaru BMR’s Colin Turkington and Team HARD’s Mike Epps completing a closely-packed top ten, who were split by 0.786 seconds.
Championship leader Sam Tordoff was down in 14th, with the 75 kilo success ballast putting him over 1.2 seconds off the pace, two places against Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal.
Jake Hill was 0.026 seconds ahead of the Team JCT600 with GardX driver, who leads the standings by 11 points from Shedden. Jason Plato’s was 15th, with the otherr Subaru Levorgs of James Cole and Warren Scott 18th and 22nd fastest.
Rob Collard was 23rd on the time sheets, as the veteran struggled to get to grips with his WSR-prepared BMW 125i M Sport, ahead of Eurotech Racing’s Jeff Smith.
Qualifying for the final day of action in the BTCC starts at 15.40 local time, lasting for thirty minutes.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 66 | M | Josh COOK |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 1:43.790 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 7 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:44.057 | 0.267 | |
| 3 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:44.083 | 0.293 | |
| 4 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:44.120 | 0.330 |
| 5 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 1:44.217 | 0.427 | |
| 6 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 15 | 1:44.230 | 0.440 |
| 7 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 14 | 1:44.459 | 0.669 | |
| 8 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 1:44.470 | 0.680 | |
| 9 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:44.499 | 0.709 |
| 10 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:44.556 | 0.766 | |
| 11 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 15 | 1:44.630 | 0.840 | |
| 12 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:44.657 | 0.867 |
| 13 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 10 | 1:45.056 | 1.266 | |
| 14 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 1:45.082 | 1.292 |
| 15 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 1:45.148 | 1.358 |
| 16 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:45.208 | 1.418 | |
| 17 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:45.409 | 1.619 | |
| 18 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:45.519 | 1.729 |
| 19 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 14 | 1:45.539 | 1.749 | |
| 20 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 17 | 1:45.770 | 1.980 | |
| 21 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 1:46.108 | 2.318 |
| 22 | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:46.155 | 2.365 |
| 23 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 13 | 1:46.182 | 2.392 |
| 24 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:46.630 | 2.840 | |
| 25 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 14 | 1:47.003 | 3.213 | |
| 26 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | 1:47.171 | 3.381 | |
| 27 | 34 | Tony GILHAM | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:47.252 | 3.462 | |
| 28 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:47.746 | 3.956 | |
| 29 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:47.817 | 4.027 | |
| 30 | 38 | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 1:51.440 | 7.650 | |
| 31 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 1 | No time | N/A |