Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish was comfortably quickest in the opening British Touring Car Championship session at Thruxton, heading fellow Honda racer Jake Hill.
The 2019 runner-up, who enjoyed his best BTCC weekend in terms of results on the series’ second visit to the high-speed Hampshire circuit last year, got his weekend off to a strong start with a comfortable advantage of 0.285s over closest rival Hill.
In fact, Cammish’s lap was good enough to dip under the previous qualifying and race lap records at the 2.4-mile track.
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s Tom Ingram was third, albeit nearly half a second adrift of Cammish’s benchmark time, ahead of Tom Oliphant in the best of the BMW 3 Series entries.
Oulton Park race three winner Adam Morgan completed the top five runners in the 40-minute session, with Josh Cook less than half a tenth behind him in sixth in his BTC Racing Honda Civic.
Reigning champion and current standings leader Colin Turkington placed seventh with maximum ballast aboard his BMW 330i M Sport, ahead of Cammish’s team-mate Matt Neal, who improved on his final lap in the session after seemingly being hampered by a mechanical fault earlier in the session.
He was just ahead of fellow FK8 Honda Civic runner Tom Chilton, while Senna Proctor rounded out the top ten positions with the runners separated by just over a second.
Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher, who currently sits third in the Drivers’ standings, could only manage 11th in his new-for-2020 Ford Focus ST, ahead of title rival Ash Sutton who placed in 12th position in his Infiniti Q50.
The second of the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundais was Chris Smiley in 13th ahead of Stephen Jelley’s BMW 1 Series, with Michael Crees making it three BTC Racing Honda Civics in the top 15.
The second practice session of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton is scheduled to get underway later today at 12:05 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH |  |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 11 | 1:15.327 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:15.612 | 0.285 |
| 3 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 19 | 1:15.818 | 0.491 |
| 4 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:16.025 | 0.698 |
| 5 | 32 | Adam MORGAN | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:16.037 | 0.710 |
| 6 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:16.070 | 0.743 |
| 7 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 18 | 1:16.142 | 0.815 |
| 8 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 1:16.148 | 0.821 |
| 9 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 12 | 1:16.263 | 0.936 |
| 10 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 17 | 1:16.335 | 1.008 |
| 11 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:16.412 | 1.085 |
| 12 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 19 | 1:16.512 | 1.185 |
| 13 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 22 | 1:16.910 | 1.583 |
| 14 | 12 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:16.919 | 1.592 |
| 15 | 777 | Michael CREES | |
The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 1:16.984 | 1.657 |
| 16 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 16 | 1:17.010 | 1.683 |
| 17 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 21 | 1:17.037 | 1.710 |
| 18 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:17.093 | 1.766 |
| 19 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 1:17.162 | 1.835 |
| 20 | 10 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Power Maxed Car Care Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 1:17.508 | 2.181 |
| 21 | 4 | Sam OSBORNE | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 22 | 1:17.631 | 2.304 |
| 22 | 44 | Andy NEATE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:17.924 | 2.597 |
| 23 | 180 | James GORNALL | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 19 | 1:18.179 | 2.852 |
| 24 | 32 | Jack BUTEL | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:18.282 | 2.955 |
| 25 | 8 | Tom ONSLOW-COLE | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 21 | 1:18.517 | 3.190 |
| 26 | 28 | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. | Volkswagen CC | 13 | 1:19.005 | 3.678 |
| 27 | 41 | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. | BMW 125i M Sport | 13 | 1:19.966 | 4.639 |