Jake Hill topped the practice time sheets as British Touring Car Championship action got underway at Snetterton, posting a lap time of 1 minute 57.320 seconds in his MB Motorsport Honda Civic.
As part of the new weekend format, this singular practice session would be the only chance for drivers and teams to tune their set-up before qualifying this afternoon.
However, with a gap of more than half a second to Adam Morgan in second, it would appear as though Hill’s engineers have already found the car’s sweet spot.
Behind the Mercedes of Morgan, Michael Crees did well to end practice as the third fastest driver in his newer shape Honda, around two tenths of a second further back.
After an uncharacteristically turbulent at Croft last time out, Colin Turkington started the weekend strongly to go fourth quickest, hoping to get his title defence back on track this weekend.
Rory Butcher rounded out the top five, going marginally quicker than Dan Cammish and Tom Ingram in sixth and seventh respectively.
Ingram was the final car to get within a second of Hill’s lap time, while Croft pole-sitter Josh Cook completed the session in eighth.
Tom Oliphant was ninth fastest for Team BMW, while championship leader Ash Sutton was just three thousandths of a second further back in tenth.
Jessica Hawkins, the second female driver to compete in the BTCC this season, was the quickest of the championship newcomers in practice, ending the session in twentieth position.
Fellow newcomer – and multiple Renault Clio Cup UK champion – Paul Rivett, was marginally slower in twenty-first.
There were issues at Team HARD though, with a potential clutch problem meaning that Jack Goff only managed to complete one warm-up lap, and will effectively enter qualifying blind.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 24 | Jake HILL |  |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 17 | 1:57.320 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 32 | Adam MORGAN | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 1:57.878 | 0.558 |
| 3 | 777 | Michael CREES | |
The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 1:58.082 | 0.762 |
| 4 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 18 | 1:58.108 | 0.788 |
| 5 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 1:58.278 | 0.958 |
| 6 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 1:58.281 | 0.961 |
| 7 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 15 | 1:58.299 | 0.979 |
| 8 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 1:58.396 | 1.076 |
| 9 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 1:58.431 | 1.111 |
| 10 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 17 | 1:58.434 | 1.114 |
| 11 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 17 | 1:58.496 | 1.176 |
| 12 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 19 | 1:58.580 | 1.260 |
| 13 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 1:58.654 | 1.334 |
| 14 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 17 | 1:58.869 | 1.549 |
| 15 | 41 | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 1:58.869 | 1.549 |
| 16 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:58.935 | 1.615 |
| 17 | 12 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:59.081 | 1.761 |
| 18 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 1:59.219 | 1.899 |
| 19 | 4 | Sam OSBORNE | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 17 | 1:59.258 | 1.938 |
| 20 | 39 | Jessica HAWKINS | |
Power Maxed Car Care Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 19 | 1:59.902 | 2.582 |
| 21 | 222 | Paul RIVETT | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 20 | 2:00.060 | 2.740 |
| 22 | 44 | Andy NEATE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 2:00.070 | 2.750 |
| 23 | 28 | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 2:00.954 | 3.634 |
| 24 | 88 | Glynn GEDDIE | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 17 | 2:01.510 | 4.190 |
| 25 | 32 | Jack BUTEL | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 2:01.930 | 4.610 |
| 26 | 23 | Ethan HAMMERTON | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 15 | 2:02.648 | 5.328 |
| 27 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 1 | No time | N/A |