Colin Turkington was fastest in a rain-affected first British Touring Car Championship practice session at Croft, ahead of championship rival Andrew Jordan and WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan.
There was little opportunity throughout the session for the drivers to rack up any meaningful mileage, with a red flag early on after Aiden Moffat suffered a technical issue leaving a window of ten minutes for drivers to set representative before the rain set in.
And it was the current championship leader who took full advantage of the window of opportunity, blitzing three consecutive fastest laps with his best effort of 1:24.498s just shy of his qualifying lap record from last year (1:24.465s).
After the opening five minutes of the session saw the teams and drivers complete their sighter laps of the track, Hunter Abbott was the first man to set a time as he posted a 1:36:225s, before bettering that on his next attempt with a 1:30. 152s.
However, it was only he and Jason Plato who set fastest laps before the red flag was flown as Moffat’s Chevrolet Cruze had to be recovered to the pitlane after ten minutes of the session had elapsed.
When the track was reopened it was Gordon Shedden and Rob Austin who were the first to move to the top of the times with the former setting the first representative time of the day on a 1:26.914, but he was soon eclipsed by the flying Turkington.
By the time the 32-year-old had set his fastest time he was more than a second ahead of his nearest rival, but Andrew Jordan was able to bridge that gap with a 1:25.003s moving him just shy of half-a-second away from the eBay Motors driver.
Morgan made a late move for fourth in the times in his Mercedes A-Class with an effort of 1:25.561s before the rain began to fall, as did Turkington’s teammate Nick Foster and the MG duo of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff.
And with the track dampening as the time remaining elapsed, Glynn Geddie, Tom Ingram, Matt Neal and Alain Menu were left to complete the top ten.
Second practice gets underway at 12:00 BST.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | |
| 1 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 11 | 1:24.498 | |
| 2 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 11 | 1:25.003 | 0.505 |
| 3 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 11 | 1:25.561 | 1.063 |
| 4 | 18 | I | Nick FOSTER | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 11 | 1:25.843 | 1.345 |
| 5 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 12 | 1:25.860 | 1.362 |
| 6 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 10 | 1:25.875 | 1.377 |
| 7 | 21 | I | Glynn GEDDIE | |
United Autosports | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 1:26.317 | 1.819 |
| 8 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:26.410 | 1.912 |
| 9 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 9 | 1:26.417 | 1.919 |
| 10 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 7 | 1:26.448 | 1.950 |