AmD Tuning’s Sam Tordoff pipped Honda’s Dan Cammish to the fastest time in the first free practice session for the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park, with BMW’s Andrew Jordan in third.
Tordoff put his older FK2 Honda on top of the times in the dying seconds of the session, edging out Cammish by less than a tenth of a second with his lap time of 1 minute 26.073 seconds.
Cammish was second in the FK8 Civic, having risen to the top of the times after just under 25 minutes of the 40-minute session.
A relatively late improvement from BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan saw the form driver emerge as the best of the rear-wheel drive cars in third.
Jason Plato was fourth fastest in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall, at a circuit the 51-year-old enjoys racing at and has tasted success 11 times in the past.
Tom Ingram was fifth fastest in the Speedworks Toyota, ahead of the second factory-backed Honda of Matt Neal in sixth.
BTC Racing’s Chris Smiley was seventh in his FK8 Civic, ahead of the best Subaru of Ash Sutton in eignth.
The second AmD Tuning Honda of Rory Butcher and Team Parker Racing’s Stephen Jelley completed the top ten, in a relatively quiet start to the weekend for the BTCC field, with no major incidents.
Late in the session Matt Simpson, who secured pole position at the circuit last year, was shown the black flag and forced to return to the pits.
Reigning champion Colin Turkington was 11th in his BMW 3 Series, just under seven tenths from the pace with full ballast on board.
Second practice gets underway at 12:10 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 | 18 | 1:26.073 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:26.162 | 0.089 |
| 3 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 1:26.340 | 0.267 |
| 4 | 11 | Jason PLATO | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 1:26.361 | 0.288 |
| 5 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 17 | 1:26.448 | 0.375 |
| 6 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:26.536 | 0.463 |
| 7 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:26.540 | 0.467 |
| 8 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 17 | 1:26.648 | 0.575 |
| 9 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:26.663 | 0.590 |
| 10 | 12 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:26.668 | 0.595 |
| 11 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:26.752 | 0.679 |
| 12 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:26.775 | 0.702 |
| 13 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:26.857 | 0.784 |
| 14 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:26.870 | 0.797 |
| 15 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 1:26.881 | 0.808 |
| 16 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:26.927 | 0.854 |
| 17 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 15 | 1:27.014 | 0.941 |
| 18 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 13 | 1:27.028 | 0.955 |
| 19 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 1:27.041 | 0.968 |
| 20 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 17 | 1:27.107 | 1.034 |
| 21 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 16 | 1:27.186 | 1.113 |
| 22 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 1:27.199 | 1.126 |
| 23 | 32 | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:27.218 | 1.145 |
| 24 | 9 | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 18 | 1:27.323 | 1.250 |
| 25 | 37 | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 19 | 1:27.794 | 1.721 |
| 26 | 777 | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 1:27.953 | 1.880 |
| 27 | 8 | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 19 | 1:27.977 | 1.904 |
| 28 | 28 | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 17 | 1:28.123 | 2.050 |
| 29 | 4 | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 20 | 1:28.218 | 2.145 |
| 30 | 41 | Carl BOARDLEY | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 4 | No time | N/A |