Rob Collard set the pace for eBay Motors in this morning’s first British Touring Car Championship practice session at Brands Hatch, as rear-wheel drive cars locked out the top three positions.
Click here for the full first practice times.
Collard set a time of 48.932 seconds to beat early pace-setter Austin by 0.197 seconds. Austin had set the fastest time earlier in the session in his Audi A4, only to be pipped by seasoned BTCC racer Collard in the second half of the session.
Tom Onslow-Cole was third fastest in his WSR-run eBay BMW, making it three rear-wheel drive cars in the top three positions.
Andrew Jordan was fourth fastest in his brand-new Pirtek Motorsport Honda Civic. However there were problems for his fellow NGTC-Civic racers, with Matt Neal ‘only’ 11th fastest, Jeff Smith 15th and Gordon Shedden down in 21st after experiencing electrical problems on his new car.
Mat Jackson was fifth fastest in his Ford Focus ST, with Dave Newsham continuing his good form from the media day test to go sixth. Árón Smith, who has switched to the Motorbase-run Redstone Racing outfit for 2012, was seventh fastest.
Frank Wrathall was eighth quickest in his Dynojet Toyota Avensis, just ahead of the third eBay Motors BMW of Nick Foster.
The red flags came out twice during the session – firstly for the stopped Honda of Gordon Shedden, then once again after John Thorne had a big off at Paddock Hill Bend. His Vauxhall Insignia suffered extensive front-end damage in the incident.
Also making their first appearance in anger this weekend are the new MG6 machines being run by Triple Eight Race Engineering. Andy Neate ended the session in 19th, with Jason Plato down in 20th and both drivers over four seconds off the pace.