Power Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook staked an early claim for the second pole position of the season by topping the final British Touring Car Championship practice session at Brands Hatch.
A 1:19.863, set in the final stages of Cook’s first run on an ever-drying track surface, narrowly edged out Dan Cammish’s time from the morning.
The two reversed roles for second practice, with the Honda Civic Type R FK8 finishing 0.379 seconds adrift of Cook on this occasion.
Chris Smiley rounded out the top three in the hatchback-shaped Type R, with Aiden Moffat’s Mercedes A-Class and the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus RS of Sam Tordoff rounding out the top five, the latter thanks to a late surge.
Rory Butcher’s AmD-run MG6 GT put in another strong showing in sixth, ahead of Tom Chilton, who caused a red flag at half-distance after slowing on circuit, but was able to restart and make his own way back to the pit lane.
Tom Ingram’s Toyota Avensis broke into the top ten for the first time this weekend in eighth, with the Ciceley-run Mercedes duo of Tom Oliphant and Adam Morgan rounding out the top ten.
Matt Simpson came next ahead of reigning champion Ash Sutton, who finished as the leading BMR-run Subaru Levorg once again with team-mates Price and Plato 22nd and 30th respectively, the latter stopping at the end of the pit lane at one stage.
Brands Hatch race-winner Senna Proctor was thirteenth in the second Vauxhall Astra, leading James Nash and Jack Goff, who finished fifteenth despite a trip through the gravel at Redgate.
Team-mate Brett Smith also visited the gravel at Coppice en route to 18th.
West Surrey Racing appeared to struggle, with Andrew Jordan forced out mid-session with a split turbo pipe, and neither Colin Turkington or Rob Collard were able to climb higher than 19th.
Easing rain at the East Midlands circuit could see further improvements to lap times ahead of the second qualifying session of the season, scheduled for 15:20.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 66 | Josh COOK |  |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 22 | 1:19.863 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:20.242 | 0.379 |
| 3 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:20.326 | 0.463 |
| 4 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 23 | 1:20.734 | 0.871 |
| 5 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 20 | 1:20.930 | 1.067 |
| 6 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 19 | 1:20.948 | 1.085 |
| 7 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 15 | 1:20.963 | 1.100 |
| 8 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 22 | 1:20.965 | 1.102 |
| 9 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 22 | 1:20.972 | 1.109 |
| 10 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 1:20.977 | 1.114 |
| 11 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 22 | 1:20.989 | 1.126 |
| 12 | 1 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 9 | 1:21.016 | 1.153 |
| 13 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 18 | 1:21.115 | 1.252 |
| 14 | 14 | James NASH | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 21 | 1:21.198 | 1.335 |
| 15 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:21.227 | 1.364 |
| 16 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 11 | 1:21.269 | 1.406 |
| 17 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 19 | 1:21.355 | 1.492 |
| 18 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:21.385 | 1.522 |
| 19 | 2 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:21.418 | 1.555 |
| 20 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 19 | 1:21.538 | 1.675 |
| 21 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 10 | 1:21.637 | 1.774 |
| 22 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
Autoglym Academy Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 1:21.685 | 1.822 |
| 23 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 21 | 1:21.701 | 1.838 |
| 24 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 1:21.728 | 1.865 |
| 25 | 12 | Tom BOARDMAN | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 15 | 1:21.735 | 1.872 |
| 26 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 7 | 1:21.830 | 1.967 |
| 27 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:21.982 | 2.119 |
| 28 | 5 | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 1:22.091 | 2.228 |
| 29 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:22.480 | 2.617 |
| 30 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 9 | 1:22.506 | 2.643 |
| 31 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 21 | 1:22.856 | 2.993 |
| 32 | 44 | Michael CAINE | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 7 | 1:23.241 | 3.378 |