Rob Austin’s HMS Racing-run Alfa Romeo Giulietta topped the timesheets in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at Oulton Park.
An effort of 1:26.300 around the 2.2 mile Island circuit posted on his first run was enough to edge out Tom Ingram’s Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis by a tenth of a second.
Tom Chilton put the Ford Focus RS in third, a mere sixteen thousandths further adrift, with a fully recovered Andrew Jordan fourth in the Pirtek-backed BMW 1-series.
A pair of hatchback-shaped Honda Civic Type Rs came next, with BTC Norlin’s Chris Smiley barely separated from Eurotech’s Matt Simpson, 0.006 seconds the gap.
Aiden Moffat’s Mercedes A-Class was seventh ahead of the sister Eurotech machine of Brett Smith and six-time Oulton Park winner Colin Turkington (Team BMW).
Jack Goff rounded out the top ten, with current championship leader Adam Morgan down in 19th on a circuit that has never traditionally favoured the Ciceley Motorsport racer.
Fellow local racer Tom Oliphant did well to post the 11th fastest time, however, in the third Mercedes.
Regular front-runners Dan Cammish, Matt Neal, Sam Tordoff and Rob Collard all struggled in the midfield, as did reigning champion Ash Sutton down in 15th in the Subaru Levorg GT.
Jason Plato’s struggles continued, with the double champion just 30th and some 1.6 seconds off the pace as Team BMR continue to overcome problems on the #99 machine.
The session largely passed without incident for the majority of the field, a gearbox oil leak on Rory Butcher’s AmD-run MG6 GT the most dramatic incident.
The action reconvenes with second practice at 12:10 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN |  |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 17 | 1:26.300 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 1:26.401 | 0.101 |
| 3 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:26.417 | 0.117 |
| 4 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:26.519 | 0.219 |
| 5 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 21 | 1:26.545 | 0.245 |
| 6 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:26.551 | 0.251 |
| 7 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 22 | 1:26.597 | 0.297 |
| 8 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:26.600 | 0.300 |
| 9 | 2 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:26.667 | 0.367 |
| 10 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:26.669 | 0.369 |
| 11 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:26.687 | 0.387 |
| 12 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 20 | 1:26.696 | 0.396 |
| 13 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 1:26.697 | 0.397 |
| 14 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:26.754 | 0.454 |
| 15 | 1 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:26.772 | 0.472 |
| 16 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:26.786 | 0.486 |
| 17 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:26.789 | 0.489 |
| 18 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 17 | 1:26.914 | 0.614 |
| 19 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 20 | 1:26.946 | 0.646 |
| 20 | 26 | Daniel LLOYD | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:26.979 | 0.679 |
| 21 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 17 | 1:27.066 | 0.766 |
| 22 | 5 | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:27.074 | 0.774 |
| 23 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 18 | 1:27.214 | 0.914 |
| 24 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 21 | 1:27.265 | 0.965 |
| 25 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 8 | 1:27.316 | 1.016 |
| 26 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 11 | 1:27.329 | 1.029 |
| 27 | 12 | Tom BOARDMAN | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 9 | 1:27.371 | 1.071 |
| 28 | 44 | Michael CAINE | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 8 | 1:27.606 | 1.306 |
| 29 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 21 | 1:27.752 | 1.452 |
| 30 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 1:27.950 | 1.650 |
| 31 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 9 | 1:28.499 | 2.199 |
| 32 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
Autoglym Academy Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 9 | 1:29.052 | 2.752 |