Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram once again started the British Touring Car Championship weekend with the fastest time, topping first practice at Rockingham ahead of Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan and Subaru’s Ash Sutton.
Ingram initially hit the top of the timesheets after 22 minutes with a lap of 1 minute 23.037 seconds, before then improving to his best time of 1:22.995 to remain on top of the times thereafter.
On a cloudy and dry morning at Rockingham, the times were slow to come in from the leading drivers. Morgan ended the session in second, having put his lap in with over 15 minutes remaining and the session then saw relatively few changes in the final third of the 45-minute period.
Third was Subaru’s Sutton, who was the best of the drivers having to carry the top quantities of success ballast early in the weekend, ending up 0.375 seconds off the pace.
Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff was fourth, ahead of an impressive showing by both of the AmD Tuning Audi drivers. BTCC rookie Ant Whorton-Eales was fifth quickest, just 0.015 seconds ahead of team-mate Ollie Jackson in sixth.
BTC Norlin Racing’s Dave Newsham had a strong session and was seventh, ahead of the leading MG of Josh Cook in eighth.
Subaru’s Jason Plato and Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin completed the top ten, whilst the top 21 drivers were all covered by less than a second.
Both of the works Honda drivers of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden took their time to build up pace in the session, languishing down at the bottom of the times with just 15 minutes to go.
In the end, Neal ended up in 16th whilst Shedden was just 21st despite having dropped some success ballast by coming into the weekend fourth in the standings rather than first as he had done for the previous few events.
WSR’s other title contender, Rob Collard, was just 31st fastest and 1.6 seconds off the pace. Collard has previously struggled for one-lap pace at the Northamptonshire circuit, having qualified down in 27th in last year’s wet qualifying session at the circuit.
Second practice takes place at 12:00 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 | Tom INGRAM |  |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 1:22.995 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 20 | 1:23.156 | 0.161 |
| 3 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 19 | 1:23.370 | 0.375 |
| 4 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:23.489 | 0.494 |
| 5 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 15 | 1:23.550 | 0.555 |
| 6 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 20 | 1:23.565 | 0.570 |
| 7 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 18 | 1:23.617 | 0.622 |
| 8 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 14 | 1:23.627 | 0.632 |
| 9 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:23.654 | 0.659 |
| 10 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 1:23.713 | 0.718 |
| 11 | 2 | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 17 | 1:23.754 | 0.759 |
| 12 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 1:23.769 | 0.774 |
| 13 | 4 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:23.775 | 0.780 |
| 14 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 1:23.819 | 0.824 |
| 15 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 1:23.824 | 0.829 |
| 16 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:23.827 | 0.832 |
| 17 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:23.832 | 0.837 |
| 18 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
A-Plan Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:23.834 | 0.839 |
| 19 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 19 | 1:23.893 | 0.898 |
| 20 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 1:23.917 | 0.922 |
| 21 | 40 | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 17 | 1:23.923 | 0.928 |
| 22 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:24.001 | 1.006 |
| 23 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 1:24.088 | 1.093 |
| 24 | 20 | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 1:24.123 | 1.128 |
| 25 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:24.179 | 1.184 |
| 26 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:24.294 | 1.299 |
| 27 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 20 | 1:24.340 | 1.345 |
| 28 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:24.356 | 1.361 |
| 29 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 17 | 1:24.473 | 1.478 |
| 30 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 10 | 1:24.581 | 1.586 |