Árón Taylor-Smith led a Power Maxed Racing 1-2 in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, just 0.007 seconds ahead of team-mate Mikey Doble.
Taylor-Smith lapped just four tenths shy of the Indy circuit lap record, posting a time of 47.905 seconds just over a minute before the chequered flag at a circuit where the Evesham-based squad performed well in pre-season testing – the Irishman was fifth fastest at last month’s official test.
After the usual rear-wheel drive entrants topped the early times, it was EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Ronan Pearson who emerged with the top time early on, settling on to a 48.722 time in the opening eight minutes.
Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill then took over at the top of the times, posting a 48.097, before Speedworks Motorsport’s Josh Cook, and shortly thereafter BMW’s Colin Turkington, posted their best times of 47.993 seconds and 47.970 seconds to take over at the top.
Ten minutes later, and in the final two minutes, Taylor-Smith went quickest, with Doble quickly following suit in second, underlining strong potential in thew Vauxhall Astra duo.
Turkington ended up third, 0.065 seconds back, with Cook the leading Toyota in fourth.
NAPA Racing UK’s Ashley Sutton was also within a tenth of the top time in fifth, with the BMW of Hill ending up in sixth.
NAPA duo Daniel Rowbottom and Dan Cammish were seventh and eighth respectively, with the top ten completed by Toyota’s Andrew Watson and EXCELR8’s Tom Chilton.
Championship leader Tom Ingram was just 12th, 0.457 seconds off the pace, whilst Toyota’s Rob Huff was 15th on his return to the circuit in the BTCC.
The top 13 drivers were covered by less than half a second, whilst the top 16 were within a second of the pace.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:05 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 26 | 47.905 | – |
| 2 | 88 |  |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 24 | 47.912 | 0.007 |
| 3 | 20 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 27 | 47.970 | 0.065 |
| 4 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 27 | 47.993 | 0.088 |
| 5 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 47.995 | 0.090 |
| 6 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 25 | 48.097 | 0.192 |
| 7 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 28 | 48.129 | 0.224 |
| 8 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 48.247 | 0.342 |
| 9 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 22 | 48.281 | 0.376 |
| 10 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 27 | 48.311 | 0.406 |
| 11 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 23 | 48.353 | 0.448 |
| 12 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 16 | 48.362 | 0.457 |
| 13 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 22 | 48.385 | 0.480 |
| 14 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 24 | 48.438 | 0.533 |
| 15 | 12 | |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 19 | 48.539 | 0.634 |
| 16 | 222 | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 48.742 | 0.837 |
| 17 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 26 | 48.913 | 1.008 |
| 18 | 22 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 27 | 49.399 | 1.494 |
| 19 | 29 | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 25 | 49.621 | 1.716 |
| 20 | 18 |  |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 12 | 49.819 | 1.914 |