Adam Morgan set the fastest time in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at Brands Hatch ahead of Team BMR’s Jason Plato and Motorbase driver Mat Jackson.
The Ciceley Racing driver set a fastest time of 1:31.428s after a mid-session restart and stayed at the top of the times, but Morgan then pulled off at Druids near the end of the session with an electrical issue in his Mercedes A-Class.
Plato had led the opening half of the session before a red flag was shown when Jake Hill – deputising for Nicolas Hamilton – spun at Graham Hill bend.
Championship hopeful Plato was then usurped by Morgan, and although he improved his time he had to settle for second, 0.169s behind in his Volkswagen CC, while Jackson was third in his previously all-conquering Ford Focus.
Colin Turkington was fourth in the second CC, 0.337s off Morgan’s pace, while Jack Goff was fifth ahead of Andy Priaulx.
Matt Neal was the best-placed of the Honda drivers in seventh, with Andrew Jordan and Aron Smith separating him from team-mate and championship leader Gordon Shedden, who wound up tenth.
The returning Menu was 28th in the session after completing a sole outlap in the fourth Team BMR Volkswagen CC.
Second practice starts at 12:45 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 33 | Adam MORGAN |  |
WIX Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 16 | 1:31.428 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 1:31.597 | 0.169 | |
| 3 | 4 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 13 | 1:31.746 | 0.318 | |
| 4 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 1:31.765 | 0.337 | |
| 5 | 31 | M | Jack GOFF | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 16 | 1:31.826 | 0.398 |
| 6 | 111 | C | Andy PRIAULX | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:31.861 | 0.433 |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:31.914 | 0.486 |
| 8 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 17 | 1:31.951 | 0.523 |
| 9 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1:31.999 | 0.571 | |
| 10 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:32.085 | 0.657 |
| 11 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 1:32.170 | 0.742 | |
| 12 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 16 | 1:32.468 | 1.040 | |
| 13 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 1:32.554 | 1.126 | |
| 14 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:32.554 | 1.126 | |
| 15 | 7 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 1:32.566 | 1.138 |
| 16 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 16 | 1:32.646 | 1.218 | |
| 17 | 54 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 15 | 1:32.684 | 1.256 | |
| 18 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 18 | 1:32.752 | 1.324 | |
| 19 | 6 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 1:32.783 | 1.355 |
| 20 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
AmD Tuning.com | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:32.859 | 1.431 | |
| 21 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:33.344 | 1.916 | |
| 22 | 101 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 16 | 1:33.579 | 2.151 | |
| 23 | 44 | James COLE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 15 | 1:33.623 | 2.195 | |
| 24 | 18 | Tony GILHAM | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 1:34.008 | 2.580 | |
| 25 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Houseman Racing | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1:35.710 | 4.282 | |
| 26 | 29 | Jake HILL | |
AmD Tuning.com | Audi S3 | 7 | 1:35.966 | 4.538 | |
| 27 | 11 | Simon BELCHER | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 7 | 1:36.158 | 4.730 | |
| 28 | 9 | Alain MENU |  |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 1 | No time | N/A | |
| 29 | 22 | Derek PALMER Jr | |
Support Our Paras Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 1 | No time | N/A | |
| 30 | 13 | Dan WELCH | |
Welch Motorsport | Proton Gen-2 | 0 | No time | N/A |