Daniel Rowbottom tops the times in opening Donington Park practice

NAPA Racing UK’s Daniel Rowbottom was the quickest driver in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at Donington Park, rising to the top of the times in the closing minutes.

Rowbottom, who scored pole at the circuit on the National configuration in the 2023 season opener, was just over a tenth of a second ahead of Team Vertu’s Tom Ingram.

The NAPA driver put in two quick laps in the final five minutes of the session, firstly rising to the top with a lap of 1 minute 33.473 seconds, before improving to a 1:33.376 two laps later.

Championship leader Ingram had been quickest until that point but ended up second in his Hyundai, ahead of the Restart Racing i30 of Daniel Lloyd in third as the top Independent.

NAPA’s Dan Cammish was fourth fastest, sharing an identical 1:33.917 lap time with WSR’s Charles Rainford in fifth, the duo being just over half a second off the pace.

Title contender Ash Sutton put his NAPA Ford in sixth, 0.648 seconds adrift, ahead of the leading Toyota of Árón Taylor-Smith in seventh, the only Corolla driver to break into the top ten.

Team Vertu’s Tom Chilton was eighth, with Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley and WSR’s Daryl DeLeon completing the top ten.

On his return to the championship, now in a Toyota, Josh Cook was 16^th in his Corolla, 1.6 seconds off the pace, as he gets reacquainted with the model he raced last season.

Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 11:50 BST.

Session results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	1:33.376	–
2	80		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	12	1:33.486	0.110
3	123		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	1:33.855	0.479
4	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	1:33.917	0.541
5	99		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	15	1:33.917	0.541
6	116		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	1:34.024	0.648
7	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	1:34.069	0.693
8	3		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	12	1:34.142	0.766
9	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	14	1:34.163	0.787
10	2		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	15	1:34.450	1.074
11	18		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	1:34.532	1.156
12	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	12	1:34.545	1.169
13	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	16	1:34.553	1.177
14	33		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	1:34.554	1.178
15	1		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	13	1:34.971	1.595
16	66		Josh COOK	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	12	1:34.996	1.620
17	17		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	14	1:35.288	1.912
18	88		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	CUPRA Leon	13	1:35.372	1.996
19	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	13	1:35.847	2.471
20	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	18	1:36.134	2.758
21	50		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	CUPRA Leon	10	1:37.909	4.533
22	19		Max BUXTON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	8	1:39.591	6.215