Árón Taylor-Smith comfortably top in damp first practice at Knockhill

Team HARD’s Árón Taylor-Smith ended up on top of the times in a damp start to the British Touring Car Championship weekend at Knockhill, the CUPRA driver’s late effort leaving him four tenths clear of team-mate Bobby Thompson.

BTC Racing’s Josh Cook had been on top of the times for most of the 40-minute session, which saw driver’s utilising wet tyres due to a rain shower.

But as the session went on conditions began to dry up, and by the end drivers were able to sample slick rubber, with Taylor-Smith proving to be the driver who made it around in time to start a late lap.

The Irishman ended up lapping the Scottish circuit in 53.088 seconds, leaving him comfortably clear of fellow CUPRA racer Thompson.

Power Maxed Racing’s Michael Crees was third quickest in his Vauxhall Astra, albeit almost a second and a half slower than Taylor-Smith.

Cook ended up in fourth, more than two seconds slower than the drying pace, ahead of Toyota’s Rory Butcher in fifth and MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill in sixth.

Team Dynamics’ local favourite Gordon Shedden was seventh at his home circuit, second quickest of the Honda runners.

Second practice gets underway at 12:15 BST followed by qualifying at 15:30 BST.

First practice results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	25	53.088	–
2	19		Bobby THOMPSON	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	21	53.531	0.443
3	777		Michael CREES	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	23	54.495	1.407
4	66		Josh COOK	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	18	55.393	2.305
5	6		Rory BUTCHER	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	55.539	2.451
6	24		Jake HILL	ROKiT MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	20	55.752	2.664
7	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	20	55.821	2.733
8	9		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	19	55.920	2.832
9	42		George GAMBLE	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	21	55.965	2.877
10	1		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	21	55.967	2.879
11	80		Tom INGRAM	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	55.972	2.884
12	48		Ollie JACKSON	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	23	55.974	2.886
13	21		Ricky COLLARD	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	25	56.004	2.916
14	12		Stephen JELLEY	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	22	56.087	2.999
15	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	17	56.103	3.015
16	11		Jason PLATO	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	16	56.154	3.066
17	50		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	21	56.176	3.088
18	3		Tom CHILTON	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	21	56.182	3.094
19	77		Sam OSBORNE	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	18	56.374	3.286
20	33		Adam MORGAN	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	17	56.444	3.356
21	99		Jade EDWARDS	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	20	56.534	3.446
22	16		Aiden MOFFAT	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	23	56.543	3.455
23	17		Dexter PATTERSON	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	23	56.582	3.494
24	123		Daniel LLOYD	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	20	56.637	3.549
25	96		Jack BUTEL	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	22	56.723	3.635
26	97		Ash HAND	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	56.924	3.836
27	62		Rick PARFITT JR	Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing	Infiniti Q50	22	57.320	4.232
28	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	22	57.355	4.267
29	20		Will POWELL	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	7	58.360	5.272