Gordon Shedden topped the second British Touring Car Championship practice session at Thruxton despite running with a full quota of success ballast.
Shedden’s Honda Civic Type-R, which posted a 1:16.510, is currently running with 75kgs on board due in part to his exclusion at Donington Park.
The defending champion assumed the standings lead after his victory in a torrentially wet third race, before his later exclusion for a technical infringement gave Tom Ingram the advantage. As per the rules, the Scot retains the weight penalty until the end of the first race tomorrow.
Practice one pace-setter Jack Goff in the Eurotech Type-R was the only man to get within three tenths of a second of Shedden, just 0.004 seconds adrift.
Adam Morgan, Rob Austin and Colin Turkington concluded the top five, ahead of strong showings for Luke Davenport and Senna Proctor, the rookies coming in 6th and 8th respectively.
View from the Paddock – Damian Meaden
It would be easy to get carried away at the notion Gordon Shedden can still emerge fastest with the weight equivalent of Colin Turkington on board his Honda Civic Type-R.
The old adage applies; “don’t read too much into practice times”. The forecast for qualifying this afternoon points towards a pole position time of around 1:15.500, which would be a new qualifying lap record and almost a second faster than the times currently being produced.
Circuit and ambient temperatures are continually on the rise here in Hampshire and from trackside it becomes quickly apparent several contenders aren’t running at full tilt.
The session continues the interesting plot developments at Subaru, with none of the four Levorg GTs in the top 20. Plato was also late joining the session, so despite improvements to the car’s performance, clearly some sandbagging has been chosen as the designated strategy for practice.
Some good news on the tyre front; several drivers were able to complete single runs of a duration longer than any race distance we’ll be running this weekend. That points, perhaps, to less punctures and drivers being able to push flat out for longer periods of the race distance.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:16.510 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:16.514 | 0.004 | |
| 3 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 21 | 1:16.828 | 0.318 | |
| 4 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 21 | 1:16.924 | 0.414 | |
| 5 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 22 | 1:16.979 | 0.469 |
| 6 | 300 | Luke DAVENPORT | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 20 | 1:17.021 | 0.511 | |
| 7 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 20 | 1:17.022 | 0.512 |
| 8 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 18 | 1:17.072 | 0.562 |
| 9 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:17.124 | 0.614 |
| 10 | 17 | David NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 20 | 1:17.157 | 0.647 | |
| 11 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 23 | 1:17.291 | 0.781 | |
| 12 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:17.352 | 0.842 | |
| 13 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 22 | 1:17.486 | 0.976 |
| 14 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 21 | 1:17.488 | 0.978 | |
| 15 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 1:17.497 | 0.987 | |
| 16 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:17.499 | 0.989 | |
| 17 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 21 | 1:17.513 | 1.003 | |
| 18 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1:17.515 | 1.005 | |
| 19 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 1:17.548 | 1.038 |
| 20 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 21 | 1:17.619 | 1.109 | |
| 21 | 23 | M | Daniel LLOYD | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 21 | 1:17.763 | 1.253 |
| 22 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:17.822 | 1.312 | |
| 23 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:17.839 | 1.329 |
| 24 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 19 | 1:17.887 | 1.377 | |
| 25 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:17.894 | 1.384 |
| 26 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 25 | 1:17.933 | 1.423 | |
| 27 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:18.051 | 1.541 |
| 28 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 1:18.068 | 1.558 |
| 29 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 21 | 1:18.070 | 1.560 | |
| 30 | 40 | M | Árón SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 17 | 1:18.348 | 1.838 |
| 31 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
BMR Racing Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 11 | 1:18.738 | 2.228 |
| 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 18 | 1:19.167 | 2.657 |