Ash Sutton ends wet first practice with the top time

Ash Sutton finished the first British Touring Car Championship practice session at Thruxton with the top time, going quickest in the closing minutes after rain had affected the running.

Thruxton specialist Josh Cook had been on top of the times for much of the first half of the session, eventually putting in his best lap of 1 minute 17.165 seconds after 17 minutes.

NAPA Racing UK’s Daniel Rowbottom then went fastest with a 1:16.921, which stood for over ten minutes as rain showers continued to affect the running.

Six minutes from the end WSR’s Charles Rainford took over at the top with a 1:16.438, but the BMW driver then suffered a puncture in the final minutes of the session.

But it was NAPA’s Sutton who was the only driver to dip into the 1 minutes 15s, his lap of 1:15.677 after switching to dry tyres putting him over half a second clear of WSR’s Aiden Moffat in second.

Reigning champion Jake Hill was third, just under seven tenths off the pace in his Laser Tools Racing BMW, ahead of Restart Racing’s Daniel Lloyd in fourth as the best Hyundai driver and also the top Independent driver.

Adam Morgan was the best of the Team Vertu quartet in fifth, a mere two thousandths ahead of Rainford in sixth.

NAPA’s Dan Cammish was seventh, ahead of the leading Toyota of Gordon Shedden in eighth.

The top ten was completed by NAPA’s Rowbottom and Team Vertu’s Senna Proctor, returning to the BTCC fold after several seasons away.

Behind 11^th-placed Tom Chilton was Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble in 12^th, the duo being over a second off the pace.

After topping the time early on, One Motorsport’s Josh Cook ended up in 15^th, just under a second and a half adrift of Sutton after failing to improve his time from the first half of the session.

Tom Ingram elected not to try and put in a competitive lap time, the Hyundai driver instead completing ‘housekeeping’ in the inclement conditions as he completed 11 laps but didn’t post a true lap time.

Second practice gets underway at 12:00 BST.

Session result

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	116		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	16	1:15.677	–
2	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	1:16.213	0.536
3	1		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	18	1:16.369	0.692
4	123		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	1:16.426	0.749
5	33		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	13	1:16.436	0.759
6	99		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	16	1:16.438	0.761
7	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	1:16.446	0.769
8	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	1:16.528	0.851
9	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	1:16.557	0.880
10	18		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	1:16.661	0.984
11	3		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	1:16.764	1.087
12	88		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	16	1:16.824	1.147
13	14		Ronan PEARSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	1:16.953	1.276
14	2		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	16	1:17.063	1.386
15	66		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	11	1:17.165	1.488
16	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	13	1:17.287	1.610
17	132		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	1:17.782	2.105
18	93		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	17	1:18.103	2.426
19	12		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	14	1:22.151	6.474
20	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	1:22.447	6.770
21	50		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	13	1:24.321	8.644
22	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	12	1:24.615	8.938
23	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	18	1:16.565	10.888
24	80		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	11	No time	N/A
25	17		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	2	No time	N/A