Jason Plato was fastest once more in the second practice session for the opening round of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship, beating Jack Goff into second place.
In another close encounter, Plato was if anything comfortable in first place, setting his time early in the session before spending much of the second half in the pits.
His time was nearly beaten though, as Goff strung a couple of great laps together, eventually finishing just 0.012s slower than Plato.
Behind them, Andrew Jordan continued his fine pace from the morning in third, ahead of Sam Tordoff in the second MG and Aron Smith who again impressed in the Volkswagen Passat.
The session seemed much more straightforward that the first, although there was another brief stoppage after Warren Scott had an excursion in the gravel trap, before he dragged his Insignia back to the pits.
A frenetic period in the first ten-to-fifteen minutes saw the majority of drivers set their fastest times, with Rob Austin and Mat Jackson trading initial blows at the top of the timesheets.
Plato then moved in for the kill, and despite Colin Turkington and Smith going close, neither of them were able to beat the MG driver’s time.
Four minutes remained on the clock after the green flag was waved following Scott’s return to the pitlane, and it looked like no one would improve on their efforts until first Jordan and then Goff jumped into third and second respectively.
With Tordoff and Smith’s earlier efforts propelling them into the top five, Tom Ingram put in an impressive performance to grab sixth in his Speedworks Avensis, with Turkington, Gordon Shedden, Matt Neal and Martin Depper rounding out the top ten.
In contrast to his fellow MG drivers, Marc Hynes found himself in 24th position – although his time was just 0.844s behind Plato’s pace-setting time.
Glynn Geddie had to pull off at the side of the track midway through the session, but Christ Stockton enjoyed a more fruitful session in terms of mileage, although he ended up in 29th place. There was good news for Ollie Jackson too, as he finally completed a flying lap in his Welch Motorsport Proton – a 53.378s.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO |  |
MG KX Clubcard Fuelsave | MG6 | 26 | 48.719 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Vauxhall Insignia | 30 | 48.731 | 0.012 |
| 3 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 31 | 48.76 | 0.041 |
| 4 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 26 | 48.762 | 0.043 |
| 5 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 32 | 48.777 | 0.058 |
| 6 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 28 | 48.783 | 0.064 |
| 7 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 48.8 | 0.081 |
| 8 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 24 | 48.856 | 0.137 |
| 9 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 28 | 48.89 | 0.171 |
| 10 | 30 | I | Martin DEPPER | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 31 | 48.954 | 0.235 |