Daniel Rowbottom topped the timesheets in the opening free practice session at Brands Hatch as the final weekend of the British Touring Car Championship season got underway.
Rowbottom, driving the Halfords Racing with Cataclean Honda Civic, ended the session just over a tenth of a second quicker than Toyota GAZOO Racing UK’s Rory Butcher with a time of 1 minute 31.249.
Butcher, who had led the session for the majority of the second half of the session had to second for second quickest, with the Corolla driver 0.076 seconds quicker than Dan Lloyd in third place.
Fourth fastest in FP1 was championship leader Ash Sutton – the Laser Tools Racing driver had led the session before Butcher then went quicker – with the reigning champion also the fastest of any of the five drivers who are still in mathematical contention for the 2021 title this weekend.
Fifth quickest was the second Team Dynamics Honda of Gordon Shedden and he ended the session ahead of Jason Plato in the second Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall.
BTC Racing’s Senna Proctor ended the session seventh and ahead of fourth in the championship Jake Hill, with the MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square driver just three thousandths of a second slower in eighth.
The top ten in the opening free practice session of the weekend was completed by Adam Morgan in the Car Gods with Ciciely Motorsport BMW and another title contender in the form of Tom Ingram in the Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com’s Hyundai.
The second free practice session of the weekend is set to get underway at 12:00 BST on Saturday.
First practice results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 32 |  |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 1:31.249 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 1:31.351 | 0.102 | |
| 3 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 1:31.427 | 0.178 | |
| 4 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 1:31.581 | 0.332 | |
| 5 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 1:31.616 | 0.367 | |
| 6 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 1:31.668 | 0.419 | |
| 7 | 18 | |
Senna PROCTOR | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 1:31.736 | 0.487 | |
| 8 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 1:31.739 | 0.490 | |
| 9 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 1:31.843 | 0.594 | |
| 10 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 1:31.845 | 0.596 | |
| 11 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 1:31.859 | 0.610 | |
| 12 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 1:31.893 | 0.644 | |
| 13 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 1:31.971 | 0.722 | |
| 14 | 19 | |
Jack MITCHELL | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 1:32.005 | 0.756 | |
| 15 | 2 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 1:32.019 | 0.770 | |
| 16 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 1:32.191 | 0.942 | |
| 17 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 1:32.269 | 1.020 | |
| 18 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 1:32.399 | 1.150 | |
| 19 | 4 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 1:32.438 | 1.189 | |
| 20 | 22 | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 1:32.455 | 1.206 | |
| 21 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 1:32.503 | 1.254 | |
| 22 | 23 | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 1:32.589 | 1.340 | |
| 23 | 31 | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 1:32.795 | 1.546 | |
| 24 | 44 | |
Andy NEATE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 1:33.195 | 1.946 | |
| 25 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | PHSC with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 1:33.215 | 1.966 | |
| 26 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 1:33.445 | 2.196 | |
| 27 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 1:33.755 | 2.506 | |
| 28 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 1:33.888 | 2.639 | |
| 29 | 55 | |
Andy WILMOT | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 1:35.404 | 4.155 |