Tom Ingram sets the early pace on a drying track at Knockhill

Tom Ingram emerged as the fastest driver in first practice for the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, with the Speedworks Motorsport driver putting in the top time in the final 30 seconds on a drying track.

The early pace-setter around the 1.27-mile circuit had been Subaru’s Ash Sutton, who initially posted a lap time of 57.110 seconds on a damp circuit, follow rain earlier in the morning.

The top time didn’t change until ten minutes to go, when Jason Plato put his Subaru at the top of the times with an effort of 56.771 seconds.

Throughout the final ten minutes the times then continued to tumble, with Dave Newsham, Ingram, James Cole, Jack Goff, Mat Jackson and Rory Butcher all enjoying brief spells at the top.

In the end Ingram prevailed and posted a lap that was over half a second quicker than Eurotech Racing’s Goff in second, ahead of Motorbase’s Mat Jackson in third.

BMW’s Rob Collard was the leading rear-wheel drive runner in fourth and the only other driver within a second of the pace.

Newsham ended up in fifth in his BTC Norlin Racing Chevrolet, ahead of Cicley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan in sixth.

Local hero Gordon Shedden was seventh, ahead of BTC Racing’s Chris Smiley, Power Maxed Racing’s Tom Chilton and Subaru’s James Cole, who completed the top ten.

There remains a small risk of showers at Knockhill for the remainder of the weekend. Second practice takes place at 12:50 BST.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	80	Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	28	53.425	0.000
2	31	Jack GOFF		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	25	54.067	0.642
3	3	Mat JACKSON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	26	54.106	0.681
4	5	Rob COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	27	54.323	0.898
5	17	Dave NEWSHAM		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	25	54.476	1.051
6	33	Adam MORGAN		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	26	54.537	1.112
7	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	17	54.568	1.143
8	22	Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	28	54.574	1.149
9	2	Tom CHILTON		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	22	54.592	1.167
10	20	James COLE		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	20	54.726	1.301
11	24	Jake HILL		TAG Racing	Volkswagen CC	25	54.852	1.427
12	6	Rory BUTCHER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	27	54.995	1.570
13	16	Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	26	55.019	1.594
14	11	Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	12	55.197	1.772
15	7	Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	25	55.425	2.000
16	12	Mike EPPS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	25	56.726	3.301
17	40	Árón TAYLOR-SMITH		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	29	56.746	3.321
18	99	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	21	56.771	3.346
19	66	Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	26	57.036	3.611
20	116	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	20	57.110	3.685
21	61	Will BURNS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	22	57.159	3.734
22	4	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	27	57.532	4.107
23	48	Ollie JACKSON		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	26	57.656	4.231
24	18	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	57.905	4.480
25	77	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	19	57.966	4.541
26	95	Stewart LINES		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	31	57.990	4.565
27	303	Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	58.056	4.631
28	25	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	21	58.074	4.649
29	39	Brett SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	21	58.157	4.732
30	30	Martin DEPPER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	32	58.348	4.923