Sam Tordoff tops opening test session at Brands Hatch ahead of new BMWs

AmD Tuning’s Sam Tordoff was quickest in the opening British Touring Car Championship test session at Brands Hatch, edging out the Team BMW duo of Andrew Jordan and Colin Turkington.

Tordoff, who has switched to Honda machinery for the 2019 season, initially went fastest in the first third of the session with a 48.622s lap around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

Completing the most laps of anyone in the session with 76 tours, Tordoff continued to improve on his time before clocking a 48.087s with just over ten minutes remaining.

His time is just half a tenth shy of Jack Goff’s pole lap at the same circuit at the opening round last year.

Andrew Jordan was second fastest ahead of reigning champion Colin Turkington, the two teammates enjoying positive early pace from their all-new BMW 330i M Sport.

Stephen Jelley was fourth fastest in the previous generation BMW, with Tordoff’s teammate Rory Butcher completing the top five.

Next was the Halfords Yuasa Racing duo of Matt Neal and Dan Cammish, who finished the session in sixth and seventh respectively, ahead of the third WSR-run BMW of Tom Oliphant.

Chris Smiley was ninth fastest in his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8, while Ollie Jackson’s Motorbase-run Ford Focus rounded out the top ten.

2018 runner-up Tom Ingram placed 15th in his new Toyota Corolla, while the pair of Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astras of Jason Plato and Rob Collard ended up 22nd and 25th respectively.

The session ran without interruption for the full three hours, with the second test due to start at 14:00 BST.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	600	Sam TORDOFF		Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance	Honda Civic Type R	77	48.087	0.000
2	77	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 330i M Sport	24	48.163	0.076
3	1	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	61	48.207	0.120
4	12	Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	74	48.219	0.132
5	6	Rory BUTCHER		Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance	Honda Civic Type R	54	48.233	0.146
6	25	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	59	48.271	0.184
7	27	Dan CAMMISH		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	51	48.296	0.209
8	15	Tom OLIPHANT		Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	63	48.347	0.260
9	22	Chris SMILEY		BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	61	48.356	0.269
10	48	Ollie JACKSON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	44	48.415	0.328
11	16	Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	38	48.433	0.346
12	303	Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	51	48.450	0.363
13	3	Tom CHILTON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	73	48.529	0.442
14	33	Adam MORGAN		Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	66	48.652	0.565
15	80	Tom INGRAM		Team Toyota GB with Ginsters	Toyota Corolla	40	48.656	0.569
16	31	Jack GOFF		RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport	Volkswagen CC	41	48.665	0.578
17	24	Jake HILL		TradePriceCars.com	Audi S3	67	48.669	0.582
18	32	Daniel ROWBOTTOM		Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	44	48.713	0.626
19	28	Nicolas HAMILTON		ROKiT Racing with Motorbase	Ford Focus RS	61	48.751	0.664
20	37	Rob SMITH		Exceler8 Motorsport	MG6	62	48.883	0.796
21	19	Bobby THOMPSON		GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct	Volkswagen CC	43	48.923	0.836
22	11	Jason PLATO		Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	60	48.953	0.866
23	66	Josh COOK		BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	36	49.047	0.960
24	8	Mark BLUNDELL		TradePriceCars.com	Audi S3	51	49.049	0.962
25	9	Rob COLLARD		Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	48	49.145	1.058
26	116	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg	29	49.151	1.064
27	18	Senna PROCTOR		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg	34	49.293	1.206
28	777	Michael CREES		GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct	Volkswagen CC	21	49.614	1.527
29	4	Sam OSBORNE		Exceler8 Motorsport	MG6	57	49.895	1.808