Matt Simpson topped the final British Touring Car Championship practice session at Oulton Park, with team-mate Brett Smith four tenths behind to make it a Eurotech Racing 1-2.
It marks the first time the former Intermarque champion has topped a session, with a best time of 1:25.798 seconds on his final run enough to secure top spot.
Late improvements were the theme of the session as teams and drivers fine-tune their setups ahead of qualifying, with every driver down to Sam Tordoff in eighth going quicker in the final stages.
Rob Austin headed that train of cars in third, continuing HMS Racing’s strong showing in practice ahead of the West Surrey Racing duo of Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan.
Dan Cammish was the leading Team Dynamics machine in sixth, a mere thousandth of a second behind Jordan’s Pirtek-backed BMW 125i M Sport.
Jack Goff conceded eighth to Sam Tordoff by the same margin, though neither could topple the sister Motorbase Ford Focus RS of Tom Chilton in seventh.
Matt Neal rounded out the top ten in the second Honda Civic Type R FK7, with reigning champion Ash Sutton behind in the Subaru Levorg GT.
Tom Ingram dropped back after a positive start to the day and ended the session 12th, with Ollie Jackson, Aiden Moffat and Rob Collard concluding the top fifteen.
Standings leader Adam Morgan posted the 19th quickest time for the second session in succession as he bids to end a long run of misfortune at the 2.2 mile Cheshire circuit, though his main rival Josh Cook fared no better in 29th for Power Maxed Racing.
Jason Plato enjoyed an improved run to 26th, though the 1.6 second margin to the head of the time sheets remained.
The weekend continues with qualifying at 15:20 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON |  |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:25.798 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:26.158 | 0.360 |
| 3 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 15 | 1:26.383 | 0.585 |
| 4 | 2 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 19 | 1:26.496 | 0.698 |
| 5 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 1:26.569 | 0.771 |
| 6 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:26.570 | 0.772 |
| 7 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 18 | 1:26.594 | 0.796 |
| 8 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 18 | 1:26.600 | 0.802 |
| 9 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:26.601 | 0.803 |
| 10 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:26.610 | 0.812 |
| 11 | 1 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 1:26.643 | 0.845 |
| 12 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 19 | 1:26.654 | 0.856 |
| 13 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 17 | 1:26.719 | 0.921 |
| 14 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 20 | 1:26.748 | 0.950 |
| 15 | 5 | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 20 | 1:26.826 | 1.028 |
| 16 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:26.845 | 1.047 |
| 17 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 1:26.903 | 1.105 |
| 18 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 20 | 1:26.910 | 1.112 |
| 19 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:26.945 | 1.147 |
| 20 | 26 | Daniel LLOYD | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:26.965 | 1.167 |
| 21 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 17 | 1:27.007 | 1.209 |
| 22 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 1:27.031 | 1.233 |
| 23 | 44 | Michael CAINE | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 1:27.155 | 1.357 |
| 24 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:27.169 | 1.371 |
| 25 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 1:27.373 | 1.575 |
| 26 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:27.471 | 1.673 |
| 27 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:27.509 | 1.711 |
| 28 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 17 | 1:27.733 | 1.935 |
| 29 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 11 | 1:27.809 | 2.011 |
| 30 | 12 | Tom BOARDMAN | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 14 | 1:27.902 | 2.104 |
| 31 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
Autoglym Academy Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:28.133 | 2.335 |
| 32 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 2 | No time |