Power Maxed Car Care Racing’s Jason Plato got the better of Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com Chris Smiley by less than a tenth of a second to end the second free practice session fastest at Donington Park.
Plato had on his previous lap moved up to P2 on the leaderboard with four minutes remaining before further improving to set a time of 1 minute 09.482 with just two mins left of the session.
His nearest challenger in the second practice session of the weekend was Hyundai driver Smiley, with pair both getting the better of long time session leader Josh Cook who ended the session third fastest.
Cook, who also finished FP1 strongly, had set a time of 1 minute 09.705 in FP2 following a steering rack change between the two sessions on Saturday.
Fourth in the second practice session was Halfords Racing with Cataclean’s Gordon Shedden – the Scot ending the session just one thousandth of a second behind Cook, with an impressive Jack Mitchell finishing the session fifth fastest in the Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct CUPRA.
He finished ahead of fellow Team HARD driver Aaron Taylor-Smith, with Rory Butcher claiming seventh fastest in FP2.
Eighth was second in the championship standings Tom Ingram, with the Hyundai driver 0.079 seconds faster than Stephen Jelley in the leading Team BMW 330i M Sport.
Tom Oliphant was tenth fastest ahead of championship leader Ash Sutton, while FP1 pacesetter Adam Morgan, who was fastest in FP1, could only manage 16th fastest in FP2.
Championship contender Colin Turkington, who was down in P17 in FP1, again struggled and only managed 19th fastest in the second practice session of the day.
Both drivers who were involved in incidents this morning – Jack Goff, who had a fuel issue in his CUPRA, and Nicolas Hamilton, who’s incident brought FP1 to an early finish, returned to action in FP2.
The qualifying shootout session for the British Touring Car Championship is set to get underway at the Derbyshire circuit at 14:35 BST on Saturday.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 |  |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 20 | 1:09.482 | – |
| 2 | 22 | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 21 | 1:09.572 | 0.090 |
| 3 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 18 | 1:09.705 | 0.223 |
| 4 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 21 | 1:09.706 | 0.224 |
| 5 | 19 | |
Jack MITCHELL | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 1:09.751 | 0.269 |
| 6 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 20 | 1:09.764 | 0.282 |
| 7 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 23 | 1:09.771 | 0.289 |
| 8 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 20 | 1:09.776 | 0.294 |
| 9 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 21 | 1:09.855 | 0.373 |
| 10 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 28 | 1:09.871 | 0.389 |
| 11 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 25 | 1:09.874 | 0.392 |
| 12 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:09.880 | 0.398 |
| 13 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 22 | 1:09.927 | 0.445 |
| 14 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 1:09.986 | 0.504 |
| 15 | 18 | |
Senna PROCTOR | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 1:09.991 | 0.509 |
| 16 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 22 | 1:09.999 | 0.517 |
| 17 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 18 | 1:10.011 | 0.529 |
| 18 | 23 | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 23 | 1:10.025 | 0.543 |
| 19 | 2 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 25 | 1:10.115 | 0.633 |
| 20 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 25 | 1:10.118 | 0.636 |
| 21 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 1:10.265 | 0.783 |
| 22 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | PHSC with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 1:10.389 | 0.907 |
| 23 | 4 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 22 | 1:10.491 | 1.009 |
| 24 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 25 | 1:10.577 | 1.095 |
| 25 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 22 | 1:10.601 | 1.119 |
| 26 | 44 | |
Andy NEATE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:10.690 | 1.208 |
| 27 | 31 | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:10.706 | 1.224 |
| 28 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 23 | 1:10.988 | 1.506 |
| 29 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 20 | 1:11.243 | 1.761 |