Tom Ingram was the fastest driver in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session of the weekend at Silverstone, the Excelr8 Motorsport driver a tenth of a second ahead of Ricky Collard, who ultimately caused the early red flag.
Ingram hit the top of the times just over halfway through the 40-minute session, his initial fastest lap time of 57.766 seconds taking him to the top of the timesheets.
The Hyundai driver then improved on his next two subsequent laps, leaving him with a lap of 57.675 seconds, which is just three tenths of a second slower than the lap record of 57.349 seconds.
Toyota’s Collard was second quickest, although he ultimately brought out the red flags which ended the session with a minute still to go when he and Will Powell tangled at Becketts and ended up in the gravel trap.
The early top times in the session were, as usual, traded between the rear-wheel drive machines, before 26-year-old Collard went to the top of the times after just under 20 minutes with his best lap of 57.779 seconds.
BTC Racing’s Jason Plato was third fastest as the leading Honda driver, a further two hundredths of a second behind Collard, with the second Toyota of Rory Butcher – two times a winner here last year – in fourth.
Points leader Colin Turkington was the best of the BMWs in fifth, 0.182 seconds off the pace, ahead of the Ciceley Motorsport 3-Series of Adam Morgan in sixth.
Morgan had earlier topped the session on several occasions, his best lap of 57.871 seconds coming ten minutes in before being bettered by Collard and then Ingram.
Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden was seventh, ahead of the Excelr8 Hyundai of Daniel Lloyd in eighth.
The top ten was completed by the leading Team HARD CUPRA of Árón Taylor-Smith and the MB Motorsport BMW of Jake Hill, the latter just under three tenths off the pace.
In all, the top 24 cars were covered by less than a second, with times around the 1.6 mile National circuit often being close together.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:05 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 |  |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 24 | 57.675 | – |
| 2 | 21 | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 25 | 57.779 | 0.104 |
| 3 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 57.799 | 0.124 |
| 4 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 22 | 57.801 | 0.126 |
| 5 | 50 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 26 | 57.857 | 0.182 |
| 6 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 10 | 57.871 | 0.196 |
| 7 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 26 | 57.890 | 0.215 |
| 8 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 25 | 57.959 | 0.284 |
| 9 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 57.964 | 0.289 |
| 10 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 26 | 57.966 | 0.291 |
| 11 | 9 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 57.986 | 0.311 |
| 12 | 97 | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 24 | 58.013 | 0.338 |
| 13 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 21 | 58.032 | 0.357 |
| 14 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 58.039 | 0.364 |
| 15 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 25 | 58.042 | 0.367 |
| 16 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 58.082 | 0.407 |
| 17 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 28 | 58.085 | 0.410 |
| 18 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 58.113 | 0.438 |
| 19 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 26 | 58.120 | 0.445 |
| 20 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 58.160 | 0.485 |
| 21 | 777 | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 58.244 | 0.569 |
| 22 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 24 | 58.434 | 0.759 |
| 23 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 23 | 58.503 | 0.828 |
| 24 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 58.542 | 0.867 |
| 25 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 58.684 | 1.009 |
| 26 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 23 | 58.857 | 1.182 |
| 27 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 58.860 | 1.185 |
| 28 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 59.525 | 1.850 |
| 29 | 20 | |
Will POWELL | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 4 | No time | N/A |