Charles Rainford leads the way in opening Brands Hatch practice

Charles Rainford set the pace in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, with a late lap seeing him edge WSR stable-mate Jake Hill by 0.137 seconds.

Laser Tools Racing’s Hill had led the way for much of the session, going top after six minutes with the first meaningful lap of the session.

After 20 minutes, NAPA Racing UK’s Daniel Rowbottom went to the top with two quick laps, his best being a time of 47.627 seconds, before Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley went quickest following quickly by Rainford’s first session-topping time.

After Smiley and Team Vertu’s Adam Morgan then followed quickly with their own session-topping times, Hill returned to the top 27 minutes into the session with his best of 47.472 seconds, which stood for just over ten minutes until he was usurped by Rainford with a 47.335 on the medium-compound tyre.

Rainford’s lap is already two tenths of a second below the qualifying lap record of 47.539 seconds set by Colin Turkington in 2022, with the outright BTCC lap record posted in 1999 during the Super Touring era over a second quicker.

Hill was 0.137 seconds adrift, with Dan Cammish the leading NAPA driver in third, just under two tenths further back.

Morgan was the best of the Hyundais in fourth, ahead of team-mate Tom Ingram in fifth, the EXCELR8 driver 0.227 seconds off Rainford.

Smiley was sixth, ahead of Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble in seventh, whilst Rowbottom ended up in eighth.

The top ten was completed by One Motorsport’s Josh Cook and NAPA’s Ash Sutton, who completed the most laps in the session.

Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:15 BST.

Session results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	99		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	26	47.335	–
2	1		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	23	47.472	0.137
3	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	22	47.531	0.196
4	33		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	27	47.533	0.198
5	80		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	20	47.562	0.227
6	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	25	47.590	0.255
7	88		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	26	47.618	0.283
8	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	25	47.627	0.292
9	66		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	21	47.629	0.294
10	100		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	31	47.640	0.305
11	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	28	47.686	0.351
12	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	27	47.731	0.396
13	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	27	47.751	0.416
14	123		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	26	47.806	0.471
15	3		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	21	47.839	0.504
16	132		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	26	47.851	0.516
17	777		Michael CREES	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	27	47.888	0.553
18	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	25	47.897	0.562
19	12		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	29	47.900	0.565
20	2		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	29	47.939	0.604
21	14		Ronan PEARSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	29	48.077	0.742
22	93		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	27	48.087	0.752
23	17		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	27	48.132	0.797
24	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	48.169	0.834
25	50		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	23	51.526	4.191