Rob Collard went quickest in the second practice session at Croft as the works cars endured a difficult session. As the session began to dry out towards the end it was Collard, on slick tyres, who set the quickest lap of 1:26.434 – around 7 seconds faster than the times had been in the wet first session.
Click here for the full second practice times.
Gordon Shedden was the only works driver to set a competitive time on slick tyres to go second fastest, two tenths slower than Collard. Tom Boardman also enjoyed a strong session to complete the top three.
Improving from tenth in the first session was Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson who was fourth fastest – although some eight tenths of a second slower than Collard, such was the frantic pace-finding towards the end of the session.
James Nash also made big gains during the session – up from 14th in FP1 – although as conditions continue to change throughout the day getting the car setup right will still prove tricky for qualifying.
Andrew Jordan was sixth fastest, whilst Rob Austin again put in a strong performance to set the seventh fastest time in his new NGTC-spec Audi A4. It is the strongest practice showing so far this season from an NGTC car and since the new Lehmann engine was installed at Oulton Park the team have really found form.
Dave Newsham was eighth, Tom Onslow-Cole ninth and Tom Chilton tenth. The only red flag during the session was caused by an off-track excursion from Frank Wrathall, limiting him to just 8 laps although he was still able to set the 13th fastest time.
Qualifying takes place this afternoon at 3:00pm and will be broadcast on the ITV Sport website at www.itv.com/touringcars