Andrew Jordan topped the times in the first British Touring Car Championship practice session at Thruxton, ahead of Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington.
The Pirtek driver has never won at the Hampshire circuit in the series, but started the weekend in the best possible manner by beating his nearest rival by four-tenths-of-a-second, with a lap of 1:16.818s.
It was Shedden and MG’s Sam Tordoff who were the first to set fast laps, with the Scot hurling his Civic Tourer through the chicane to set a 1:17.492 and eclipse the latter’s previous best of 1:17.751s.
Turkington was the surprise package of the session – having expressed fears that his team would struggle at the circuit – as he claimed top spot with a 1:17.266s, with Shedden reclaiming top spot with his next lap (a 1:17.248s) before Jordan marched to the top of the timing sheet with 17 minutes of the session remaining.
Alain Menu and Mat Jackson were an impressive fourth and fifth respectively, the Swiss spending much of the session in and around the leading positions and confirming suspicious that his package should be one of the more competitive ones this weekend.
The session ran quietly throughout with drivers opting to get straight down to race runs in their cars and scrubbing in tyres, as opposed to focusing on their one lap pace. That meant the spread of the field was greater than at the previous two rounds, with only the top six cars separated by a second, although everyone down to Aron Smith in 19th found themselves within two seconds of Jordan’s pace.
There were two stoppages in the session, both resulting from incidents at Allard. Rob Collard was the first to bring out the red flags, having a small spin before kissing the barrier and continuing, but there was a more significant impact for BMR Restart’s Smith, whose car had to be recovered, bringing an effective end to the session with a minute-and-a-half remaining.
Second practice gets underway at 12:40 BST.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN |  |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 16 | 1:16.818 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 20 | 1:17.248 | 0.430 |
| 3 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 1:17.266 | 0.448 |
| 4 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 15 | 1:17.474 | 0.656 |
| 5 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 1:17.619 | 0.801 |
| 6 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 21 | 1:17.751 | 0.933 |
| 7 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 20 | 1:17.846 | 1.028 |
| 8 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:17.852 | 1.034 |
| 9 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 19 | 1:17.897 | 1.079 |
| 10 | 7 | I | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI |  |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 1:17.902 | 1.084 |