Tom Ingram topped the opening free practice session of the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season, setting a fastest lap time of 48.230 around the Indy circuit ahead of Matt Neal and Rob Collard.
The sight of a near-capacity field heading down the pit lane in the Spring sunshine heralded the beginning of the new campaign, and the class of 2016 set to work almost immediately.
Jack Goff set the initial pace in his BMW 125i M-Sport, with the IHG Rewards Club driver setting a 55.999, before a flurry of times saw Jason Plato, Jake Hill and Mat Jackson top the time sheets in the early stages.
Tom Ingram had the unwelcome honor of being the first driver to bring out the red flags this season, with the Toyota Avensis coming to a halt on Cooper Straight.
The latter stages of the session saw a number of championship contenders come to the fore, though the MG pairing of Josh Cook and Ashley Sutton were arguably the most consistent package of the session as they maintained a healthy position within the top ten as the times continually tumbled.
Free practice is often used to collect data and experiment with setups, so whether Ingram’s form will be replicated in qualifying this afternoon remains to be seen. As first days at the office go, however, this is a good one.
Free practice two gets underway at 12:45.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM |  |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 27 | 48.230 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 48.317 | 0.087 | |
| 3 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 23 | 48.345 | 0.115 |
| 4 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 17 | 48.362 | 0.132 | |
| 5 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 26 | 48.371 | 0.141 | |
| 6 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 26 | 48.388 | 0.158 |
| 7 | 31 | G | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 28 | 48.507 | 0.277 |
| 8 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 26 | 48.541 | 0.311 |
| 9 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 29 | 48.578 | 0.348 | |
| 10 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 28 | 48.595 | 0.365 | |
| 11 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 48.732 | 0.502 | |
| 12 | 7 | C | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 30 | 48.811 | 0.581 |
| 13 | 11 | C | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 24 | 48.911 | 0.681 |
| 14 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 29 | 48.943 | 0.713 | |
| 15 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 29 | 49.020 | 0.790 | |
| 16 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 22 | 49.114 | 0.884 | |
| 17 | 4 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 25 | 49.133 | 0.903 | |
| 18 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 32 | 49.185 | 0.955 | |
| 19 | 57 | Andy NEATE | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 26 | 49.279 | 1.049 | |
| 20 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 32 | 49.319 | 1.089 | |
| 21 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 20 | 49.339 | 1.109 | |
| 22 | 30 | M | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 26 | 49.359 | 1.129 |
| 23 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 27 | 49.400 | 1.170 | |
| 24 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 31 | 49.665 | 1.435 | |
| 25 | 20 | James COLE | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 35 | 49.809 | 1.579 | |
| 26 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 20 | 50.382 | 2.152 | |
| 27 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 50.497 | 2.267 | |
| 28 | 38 | M | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 24 | 50.834 | 2.604 |
| 29 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 53.370 | 5.140 | |
| 30 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 6 | 1:00.125 | 11.895 | |
| 31 | 39 | Warren SCOTT | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 7 | 1:00.712 | 12.482 | |
| 32 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | – | No time | N/A |